Mayor Murphy
by cresselia8themoon
Summary: Milo and his friends are on a summer trip to visit their penpals in the small town of Fortuna, but get more than they bargained for when Milo is suddenly declared the mayor! Now they have to help the villagers develop their new town!
1. Kitty Cat

Crossover with Animal Crossing. I'll be using a combination of New Leaf and Happy Home Designer for this fic. I really wish I had a Switch so I can play the new one Nintendo's hinting at…

 _Ch 1- Kitty Cat Chitchat_

* * *

"We'll be seeing you at the end of the summer, so don't get into too much trouble now," Brigitte said, hugging Milo. "Send us a a postcard, okay?"

Milo grinned. "I promise, though I can't guarantee it will arrive."

Shrugging, Martin ruffled Sara's hair. "Saves me a few bills every now and then. Take care of Milo, sweetie."

Sara saluted. "As his older sister, it is my sworn duty to fight against the darkness that threatens harm to him!"

"And as your younger brother, it is my duty to support your duty to fight against the darkness that threatens harm to me!" Milo saluted too enthusiastically, and he staggered back as the side of his hand collided with his forehead. He tripped over the pile of luggage, knocking it over and sending a small briefcase skidding across the platform and into the railroad tracks. A train pulled into the station, the front car slowly crushing the briefcase as it ground to a halt.

Milo chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that."

"I'll buy more makeup later," Sara said. "But it's not the end of the world."

Melissa and Zack finished saying goodbye to their parents. "So who's ready for the summer to begin?" Melissa cheered.

"Me! Me!" Milo rocked on his heels, before making a beeline for the door. Sara, Melissa, and Zack followed him, selecting seats near the front of the train. Milo stored his luggage in the compartment above him, then he helped Zack with a heavy looking suitcase.

They gathered at the window to wave at their parents. The train lurched forward, letting out a shrill whistle as it pulled out of the station.

"Where's everybody else?" Zack asked. "Shouldn't there be more people here?"

"To be fair, it's not rush hour yet," Melissa replied.

Sara shone a flashlight under her chin, though the effect was lost since the train was well-lit. "We're on a train to nowhere," she narrated. Milo moved the handle of a slide whistle up and down, adding several eerie wails. "Who will be the first among us to perish? Will it be the worrier, the danger-prone one, the forgetful girl, or the naturally talented leader of the group?"

Melissa thought for a moment. "I think the worrier would be the first to go. If you worry too much about something, it will impair your actions."

"Thanks for throwing me under the train," Zack muttered.

"No problem!" Melissa snapped her fingers, and Sara handed control of the flashlight over to her. "So with the worrier out of the picture, the leader was feeling crushing guilt about not being able to save him from the man eating jackalopes. She resolved to be stronger and vowed to protect her remaining two charges. Your turn, Milo."

She pointed the flashlight at the wall. Milo made a shadow puppet, wiggling his fingers threateningly. "But the danger prone one was curious. He wanted to go look at the bells and whistles that guided the train, but the leader said-"

"What time is it?"

Sara checked her phone. "It's 1:32 pm right now."

"Thanks a bunch! My watch gets thrown off easily. I'm always moving through time zones."

Zack looked up, his jaw dropping at the sight of a blue and white tomcat acting like a human. "Is that a talking cat?"

"We nearly sacrificed you to llama gods, blown up a lot of pistachios, and went to that crazy convention where a bunch of sci-fi and fantasy geeks started World War 3, and a talking cat is what weirds you out?" Melissa raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it's nice to meet you all!" the cat greeted. "My name's Rover, and I'm just gonna plop down next to you because I really like meeting new travelers!" With that, Rover sat down on the seat across from them.

Milo shook Rover's paw. "My name's Milo! Where'd you get your sweatervest from? I really like the pattern."

"Why, the Able Sisters of course!" Rover puffed out his chest proudly. "They make only the best clothes around these parts! I'm sorry, I didn't get the rest of your names!"

"I'm Sara, and this is Melissa and Zack," Sara said, leaning back in her seat.

Rover laughed. "Purrfect names! So where are you guys heading?"

"All of us have penpals in the town of Fortuna," Melissa explained. "We've been exchanging letters since January, and one day they asked us if we wanted to meet them. Since none of us had plans for the summer, we said yes."

A dreamy look crossed Rover's face. "Mmmm, tuna…." He salivated for several awkward minutes, before snapping back to reality with a jolt. He wiped away a small trail of drool. "Sorry. You said Fortuna, right? I've never heard of it, but I do have all these maps with me. Maybe you could point it out?"

He unfolded several maps, all of which appeared to be layouts of small villages. "I think Fortuna was this one," Sara pointed to the one in the middle, frowning. "This doesn't look like a large town at all."

Rover chuckled. "A lot of towns formed on the tracks are still very much developing. So have you ever been to Fortuna before?"

"No. We've been busy with school," Zack said.

"School? So you must have some idea about how we can start one up here," Rover murmured. "Ah, sorry. My granny always says I always have this habit of talking to myself. Visiting new places is always fun! So what are you planning to do once you get there?"

"We'll just do things as they come. Things don't usually work out when we try to plan ahead," Milo said.

Rover leaned foward in his seat, curious. "So you like to go with the flow then. That's usually good."

The train slowed down, and a screechy voice crackled through the intercom. "Arriving at Fortuna!"

Rover stretched luxuriously. "I hope you have a wonderful summer! Thanks for the chat. Haven't ridden a train this much since 2002, makes me nostalgic for the good old days…." he continued to mutter to himself as he moved to another train car.

"He seems nice," Milo remarked as he grabbed his luggage, carefully maneuvering it so it didn't drop on anyone's head. Once everyone was ready, they disembarked from the train.

The train station was small but welcoming, a blue flag with a tree in the middle fluttering in the wind above the ramp. A monkey in a navy uniform waited at the booth. "This stop is Fortuna! Everyone for Fortuna, exit here! Eek eek!"

"Excuse me, sir. We're here for the penpal thing," Milo asked the monkey. "Do you know if there's someone we can to see about that?"

The monkey's face lit up. "You're here! Finally! We've been waiting for you!" he slid out of the booth, pushing Milo towards to the exit. "Go outside, eek eek! Isabelle's been planning this event for months!"

Zack crossed his arms. "Does 'eek eek' mean anything?"

"It could be a catchphrase," Melissa suggested.

"Why was he so excited over Milo and not paying attention to the rest of us?" Sara complained. "Something strange is going on here."

There were several loud pops outside the train station. "WELCOME TO FORTUNA!"

"Strange doesn't equal bad," Melissa said. "Even so, I'd like to get to the bottom of this. Let's roll."

* * *

I'll be using chuggaaconroy's ACNL Let's Play as a guide for this. I highly, highly recommend watching it. It's great.


	2. Isabelle

As soon as Milo set one foot outside the train station, he was immediately swarmed by several excited anthropomorphic animals. "Is that the new mayor?" a white squirrel asked. "I sincerely hope I'm not seeing things."

"Oh, Marshal. Patience is a virtue," a doe rolled her eyes.

An alligator huffed. "Who cares? Let the guy speak already!"

A yellow dog gestured for them to calm down. Perched on top of her head was a pair of bells that rang with every move she made. "From us to you, we say, WELCOME TO FORTUNA!"

Everyone released party poppers, cheering. They failed to notice Milo's confusion. He waved shyly. "Um, hi?"

"Milo! What's going on out here?" Melissa demanded, rushing out of the station. "Who are you people?"

"Animals? People-animals?" Sara scratched her head. "Did we get off at the right stop?"

"Everyone keeps saying Fortuna, so we must be in the correct place," Zack reasoned. "But first, we're just here on a penpal exchange. Do you guys not get a lot of people coming through here?"

The yellow dog bowed in apology. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I've been planning this day for months since Tortimer retired that I didn't really prepare a good explanation!" Starry eyed, she grabbed Milo's hands. "And you, you're perfect for the job! This sweatervest just radiates power! The storing capacity of your backpack!"

Sara gently pried her offer Milo. "We really don't know what you're talking about."

"Eep!" she bowed so quickly several times that Milo thought she was going to get whiplash. "I need to explain stuff better! I'm so sorry! My name is Isabelle, and I'm the secretary! But we'll get to that in a moment. The more important thing is, you're our mayor!"

"Mayor?" Milo gasped. "Well, as cool as that sounds, I just got out of 7th grade. I don't know much about civics."

"That's okay, Mayor Milo! I handle all the paperwork around here! Now, we should really continue this discussion at Town Hall. So if you and your friends would kindly follow me," Isabelle said.

The other animals whispered to each other, sneaking curious glances at them as they walked away.

Fortuna looked like a great place to live in, even if it was rather vacant. They passed by several small flower gardens, surrounded by honeybees and small, white butterflies. Peaches blossomed on the trees, though one in particular caught Milo's eye.

"Hey, Isabelle?" Milo asked, interrupting her spiel about the previous mayor. "What kind of peach is that? I've never seen anything like it before." He pointed to a golden peach that hung on the lowest branch of a nearby tree.

"An excellent question, Mayor Milo!" Isabelle tapped the trunk. "This here is what we like to call a Perfect Peach! There are many varieties of Perfect Fruit, and if you sell only one of these babies to a town where it's not native, then you get a whole lot of Bells!"

"Bells?" Melissa asked.

"I'm getting ahead of myself. It would be a lot easier if you learn by doing these things!" Isabelle set off at a much quicker pace, forcing everyone to run so they could keep up with her. "Town Hall is just over that bridge!" She pointed to a flowing, sky blue river with an old bridge above it. On the other bank rested an impressive building with the words "Town Hall" on a wooden plaque above the entrance.

Isabelle crossed the rickety bridge with ease, lightly humming as she waited for everyone else. "You guys might want to cross first," Milo offered.

Melissa set one foot on the bridge, tensely clutching the ropes as she carefully moved to the other side. Zack made it across after much encouragement. Melissa patted his back as he breathed heavily. Sara slipped her arm around a coil of rope before carefully moving across, her foot nearly going through a gap in the blanks.

"Come on, Milo!" Melissa yelled.

Milo hiked up his backpack, wobbling as the bridge swayed beneath his feet. He made it to the middle before the plank beneath him collapsed, dropping him several feet into the water below.

Milo splashed around wildly for a few seconds before realizing that he wasn't moving. Isabelle giggled. "You're so silly, Mayor Milo! The rivers aren't deep at all around these parts!"

"By any chance, are you aware of Murphy's Law?" Milo asked, grabbing the end of the rope Sara threw to him. She and Zack hauled him onto the bank, unfolding a towel so he could dry off.

"No, I've never heard of it," Isabelle said.

"It just means anything that can go wrong will go wrong," Melissa explained. "Milo's descended from the guy it was named for."

"It's a family thing," Sara added. "But we usually try to see it as a way to explore more opportunities."

"That's interesting! It would liven up the town a little more!" Isabelle clapped. "Let's go in. I might have spare clothes lying around somewhere…." She opened the door, her short, poofy tail wagging in excitement.

They took advantage of the waiting area at the front while Isabelle dug around for a spare set of clothes. "I'm so confused right now," Zack shook his head.

"Join the club," Melissa muttered.

Sara looked up from drying Milo's hair. "We were caught so off guard that we left all our luggage at the train station. We'd better grab it the first chance we get."

"I don't think it's so bad. Suddenly being declared mayor aside, of course," Milo said.

Isabelle carried a bundle of clothes back to them. "Here's what we have available! I have to find the paperwork, so if you'll excuse me, I'll need to go find that too. I'm so sorry, I'll try to be better organized in the future! I promise!"

She dropped the clothes on an empty seat and ducked behind the counter, several crumpled up sheets of paper flying through the air. Milo looked through the pile, selecting a red t-shirt with a diamond pattern and a pair of jeans. "Isabelle?" he called. "I hate to interrupt, but do you happen to have anywhere private I could change?"

There was a muffled "ow" as she withdrew her head from a cabinet. "No, you aren't interrupting anything! And don't worry about a thing. One size fits all, otherwise it wouldn't be made from the Able Sisters!" She led Milo to a small office in the back, smiling as she shut the door. "I'll have the paperwork out before you know it, so please take your time!"

The first thing in the room Milo noticed was the enormous painting of what appeared to be an old tortoise with a beard. It hung above an empty fireplace, obviously well-kept and free of dust. A polished, dark brown desk proudly sat in the middle of the room. Milo draped his wet clothes on a chair and pulled on the set Isabelle had generously provided.

"She wasn't kidding. One size really does fit all," Milo marveled at how comfortable the jeans was. As an afterthought, he also brought out a spare sweatervest from his backpack and pulled it over the shirt. He spun around in the plush, black chair for several minutes before stepping out.

Isabelle grinned. "I knew you would look good in the red argyle tee! Even if I don't have much of an eye for fashion."

"Okay, so could you please explain all this mayor stuff?" Zack asked. "And about the penpal program?"

"Ah! I forgot to tell your penpals to include that in correspondence!" Isabelle shrieked. "Okay, our former mayor Tortimer decided to retire so he could enjoy his golden years in peace. This caused a major disruption in the time stream of Crossing Valley. My twin brother, Digby, came up with the idea of the penpal program to find eligible young people to take his place."

"Did you say time stream?" Sara gasped. "Milo, it's like we're living in an episode of Dr. Zone! This is gonna be so cool! But what exactly is Crossing Valley?"

It was Isabelle's turn to be in shock. "You've never heard of Crossing Valley? Fortuna is just one of many towns in it! All the towns are at different points in time, so while it's the beginning of summer here, it could easily be Toy Day elsewhere. And that's just scratching the surface. I know we look cut off if you just look at the size of the cliffs, but with a few Public Works Projects, PWPs for short, we could easily have contact with other towns."

"Right, so time stuff. Okay then," Zack said.

"It really does sound like a Dr. Zone episode," Milo said.

Isabelle glanced at him. "Mayor, who is Dr. Zone?"

"He's a character from a TV show we like," Sara said. "Say, do you get cable out here?"

Isabelle shook her head. "Programming in Crossing Valley and the outside world tend to be very different. However, we do have wi-fi."

Sara deflated. "Guess we're livestreaming Dr. Zone for the summer, Milo. It doesn't really feel as good if we aren't watching it on the big screen."

"Before I give you the paperwork, you need to go visit Nook's Homes. It's a big real estate office, you can't miss it! Just cross the railroad tracks and you'll be there in no time! You need to be a resident of the town before we can officially declare you mayor," Isabelle said. "Also, Digby can answer more questions about the penpal program. We're trying something new to attract more animals to move in, but he'll be able to tell you more about that than I ever could, the dork."

"Real estate? Hold on, I don't have the money to purchase a house!" Milo protested.

"It's not hard to make Bells around here. But for now, just focus on finding a good place to live," Isabelle ushered everyone out of Town Hall, waving to them.

"All in favor of going with the flow?" Sara asked. Everyone nodded. "As I thought. Isabelle's nice and stuff, but I don't thinks she realizes that you aren't staying here permanently."

They walked along the riverbank, finding a cobblestone bridge downstream. While crossing, a rabbit with three gaping, empty holes in the middle of her head stopped them. "Hi, you're our new mayor, right? Diana told me the news, doyoing! Oh, my name is Coco! It's a pleasure!"

Zack stiffened. "What's up with your face?"

Melissa lightly punched him on the shoulder. "Don't be rude!" she growled.

"Oh, it's okay. I don't mind," Coco replied. Her facial expressions didn't move as she spoke, so it was impossible to tell if she was offended by the question. "I'm actually a spirit possessing a haniwa."

She skipped away, oblivious to Zack freaking out. "I have no idea what a haniwa is," Melissa said.

"They're terracotta figures that were used for funeral rites in Ancient Japan," Sara explained.

"Let me guess, you learned about it from Dr. Zone," Melissa said.

"No, she's just really into history," Milo smiled.

As they swung by the train station to pick up their belongings, they discovered all their luggage was missing. "Hey, monkey man!" Sara shouted. She lifted up him by his shirt, the monkey anxiously squeaking in shock. "What happened to all our things? We have valuables, you know!"

"Double eek eek! It's all been taken care of! The Nook's Homes crew have your things and are waiting for you right now!" the monkey screeched.

"This is way too much exposition for one day," Melissa sighed.


	3. Nook's Homes

_Ch 3- Nook's Homes_

* * *

The buildings surrounding Nook's Homes were boarded up, falling apart from disrepair. Even the shops that were open looked small and crammed together. They found Nook's Homes to the left of the post office. The exterior shone a crisp blue and white, in stark contrast to the rest of the street.

A bell fell on Milo's head as he pushed open the door, rolling across the floor until stopping at a raccoon's feet. "Ah, hello! Welcome, welcome! You're the new mayor, correct?" he said.

"I guess? Are you Digby? Isabelle said he designed the penpal program and that we should go speak to him if we have any questions. Which we do," Milo said.

"No, no!" the raccoon laughed jovially. "I'm Tom Nook, the owner of Nook's Homes! I was once a humble shopkeeper who generously provided a selection of items for our villagers to peruse, but then I decided to think bigger! So I established Nook's Homes, for all our real estate needs! Oh, and who are your friends?"

"This is Sara, my older sister! And my best friends, Melissa and Zack," Milo pointed to the others. "And my name is Milo!"

Tom Nook nodded. "I see, I see. Well, I suppose helping you scout out a location for your new home can wait for a bit. Digby is currently at the main office, so we can handle your business there. Feel free to look around the shop while you wait. I need to call the main office to let them know we're coming."

He disappeared around the back, whistling cheerfully. Melissa examined a model of a purple roof, her eyes falling on the price tag. "I think those Bells everyone keeps mentioning are the currency here. Do you think they have a currency exchange somewhere?"

"Hey, guys!" Milo pointed at a scaled down model of a mansion, a train similar to the one that brought them to Fortuna chugging in between the windows. "Look at this train!"

"Milo, maybe you shouldn't-" Too late. The entire model crumbled into plaster as Milo picked the train up to show off to his friends. "-touch it." Sara finished lamely.

Milo carefully set the train down. "Oops."

* * *

"Yes, yes! I have the keys so let's-GREAT AXES OF SERENA!" Nook's face changed from disbelieving to mortified to fury in the span of ten seconds. "I leave you kids alone for less than five minutes and you break a very important model!"

"Sorry, Mr. Nook," Milo apologized. "These kinds of things tend to happen a lot."

Nook sighed. "Fine, fine. Those models aren't exactly cheap though. But, as I understand, it was purely an accident. Because I'm a generous raccoon with the heart of a two bedroom, two story duplex, I'll let this little incident pass."

"That's a relief," Melissa murmured.

Nook led the group towards a back street, where a long set of stairs rested on the brick road. "This entire road is called Main Street," he explained. "Up these stairs is what we call Central, the point where the entire time stream in Crossing Valley meets and animals can go in and out as they please. It used to be just a grassland, but thanks to my grand designs and hard-working employees, we are constantly developing the place to suit all our needs."

They passed through a translucent wall at the top of the stairs, and the air rippled around them, shimmering until they were deposited on a brick road.

"I thought you said you were developing the place?" Melissa asked, taking in the various empty lots that were roped off to outsiders.

"It's a recent idea. We've mostly been dealing with building villager homes, and let me just say, some of them have-ah-very curious ideas for their places of residence," Nook grimaced.

"How curious?" Sara asked.

Nook gave her a funny look. "Egbert wanted to be surrounded by even numbers."

"Well, it makes dividing a lot easier," Milo mused.

"Yes, yes, moving on now. Here is the main branch of Nook's Homes!" Nook opened the door, revealing a ton of smiling employees. "Everybody, I'd like to present Fortuna's new mayor, Milo! And his sister and friends!"

"Bang! Great to meet ya, new mayor!" an elderly otter grinned, reminding Milo of a very shrewd door to door salesman. "Name's Lyle! Just talk to your new uncle if ya ever need anything!"

A pink otter frowned. "Aw, I'm supposed to be your favorite, Uncle!"

"Of course you are, Lottie!" Lyle chuckled. "No one could ever replace you!"

"Yay!" she grinned.

A brown and white dog smiled. "Yeah, you're one of the best we've got."

Lottie's throat seized in what appeared to be a high pitched squeal, but she quickly stopped herself, blushing. "Thanks, Digby."

"Digby, these young folk have some questions about the penpal program you've done an excellent job managing," Nook said.

"Let's start with the basics," Melissa suggested. "What is this program about?"

"It started when Tortimer retired, you see," Digby said. "It triggered a disruption in the time stream, splitting into a new branch of towns where humans can become mayor and decorate the town as they please. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of towns at different points in time. For example, there are towns in which Tortimer is still the mayor and Mr. Nook was still a small time shopkeeper. And where Isabelle and I don't exist."

"As fascinating as learning more about the time stream is, you still haven't explained the penpal stuff," Sara responded.

"I'm getting there. As more towns popped into existence, the amount of villagers exploded. There were many arguments over who got to move where, so in order to help I began thinking of ways to increase the maximum amount of animals that could live in one town."

"And the final result was the penpal program?" Zack asked.

Digby nodded. "You guys sure catch on fast! The penpal program is just one part of it though. It gave us a way to exchange letters and make new friends without being limited to just a single town! Rover was instrumental in delivering letters to humans. He's something of an anomaly, you know. For some reason, he's able to go out in the human world when the rest of us are limited to Crossing Valley."

Sara excitedly bounced in place. "What if we solved the mystery of the time stream for you? Milo and I have nearly an encyclopedic knowledge of Dr. Zone and all things time travel. We could help!"

"Dr. Zone? What is she talking about?" Lottie asked.

"Just a show they like," Melissa answered, listening to Milo gush about the symbolism of different clocks within the series. "Digby, you said the penpal program was one part. What's the other?"

"With instincts as sharp as yours, you'd be a good addition to the team!" Digby said. "The other part is what I like to call Roomies. If two animals shared a home, then the amount of villagers that could move in will double! And that would definitely make things a lot more interesting! It took some adjusting, but we've managed to adapt our homemaking styles to accommodate two animals."

"And this leads us to assigning roommates," Nook added. "I trust you're somewhat acquainted with your pen pals, yes? Because with the exception of the mayor, you will be rooming with them."

"Wait, why does Milo get his own house? What about the rest of us?" Zack complained.

Nook folded his stubby arms. "I'm throwing away a good business opportunity, but the mayor gets certain privileges, which includes his own home. However, he will have to pay for the home mortgage just like everyone else."

Sara poked a finger at him accusingly. "You are not giving my little brother a debt he needs to pay off. For goodness sake, he's not in college yet!"

Nook shoved her finger away, bewildered. "No, no! You misunderstand me! The mortgage can be paid off at your own pace. No deadlines at all."

"You have a very strange society," Melissa said.

"I kind of like it," Milo shrugged.

"Bam! Is that not how it works for ya humans?" Lyle asked.

Zack shook his head. "You pay, get evicted, or suffer horrible consequences. That's the way we do it."

Lottie gasped. "That sounds awful!"

"Getting back on topic," Nook cleared his throat. "Melissa, you'll be assigned to Diana. Sara, you're with Cesar. Zack, you'll be with Del. They're all aware that you'll be rooming with them for a while. As for Milo, you need to scout out a location for your new home."

"Pick a location? I wouldn't know where to begin!" Milo exclaimed.

"Don't pick anywhere near a cliff," Sara advised. "Or where there's potential for falling rocks. Or near trees."

"There's plenty of nice, open spaces," Zack added. "Look, if you can't decide, we'll help you out."

"Yeah, come on," Melissa said, nudging Milo. "And we'll cover for the cost of any damages that will inevitably occur."

"Well, it was nice to meet you!" Lottie indicated a pile of luggage stacked by the door. Milo hadn't even noticed their belongings. "Sorry, I knew we should have left a note. By the way, who had the black bag with the hearts? I love the design."

"That would be mine," Melissa slung the bag across her shoulder. "It was on sale."

"Even the Able Sisters don't sell that sort of thing!" Lottie exclaimed. "Come back and visit me when you've settled in!"

"Don't forget about ol' Lyle! Bang!" Lyle smirked, adjusting his glasses.

"If you have any more questions, please come by anytime!" Digby waved.

After the round of goodbyes, they made their way back to Fortuna and immediately began scouting for a location. Milo ruled out the northeastern portion of town due to Diana and Coco's homes being set up next to a peach tree orchard. He didn't want their houses crushed by those lovely trees.

"What about over here?" Melissa suggested, standing in an open spot next to a large gray boulder. "You get a clear view of the river!"

Zack flinched. "Or you could just not choose a house next to the river! What if man-eating fish came to kidnap you in the middle of the night? Have you seen dead mackerel eyes? Cause I sure have! These things stick with you!"

"Did you have a bad experience at a fish market?" Melissa asked.

"No, but one day we'll wind up being in one. Just you wait," Zack retorted.

"Being in a fish market could be fun," Milo said. "I mean, what's not to love about fresh seafood? Unless you're allergic, or have crippling ichthyophobia, or seagulls trying to steal whatever you buy..."

Melissa placed her hand over his mouth. "I don't think you're helping your case."

"Young man," Nook interrupted. "Fishing is a favorite hobby of many in Crossing Valley. It's also a reliable Bell-making method."

"Well, fish all you want. I just don't want them near me," Zack shuddered.

Taking out a meter stick, Sara measured the distance between the river and Milo's position. She laid it down five times, then stopped when the stick lined up with his heels. "I'm not sure if I like this area. The scenery's great, but you'd be at risk for flooding."

Milo nodded. "We'll keep trying."

Finding no satisfactory locations north of the river, they crossed the remaining bridge and found a location near Town Hall that seemed perfect. Far away from falling rocks, the river, and not near any trees. Marshal's house was close enough by in case Milo needed any help too.

"Yes, yes!" Nook exclaimed. "So is this where you'd like to build your new home?"

"Yup! Final decision!" Milo replied.

Nook set up a rope that blocked off the area, only for the material to slip off the stakes. He tried again, and three of the stakes toppled over. He frowned. "That's peculiar. I've never had this much trouble before with setting these up before. My Junior Tanuki skills must be rusty."

"May I?" Sara offered. Nook decided to take a much needed break. "Milo, the adhesive please."

He tossed a package of heavy duty duct tape to her, and she applied nearly the entire roll to all the knots. "There, that should hold it down."

"I'm just going to let you handle the tent as well," Nook said, fanning himself. "Would one of you mind getting me a peach? I can't conduct proper business on an empty stomach."

"A tent? I thought you were building a house?" Sara glared. "Don't scam us, you trash-rooting, greedy little fluffbutt."

Nook gasped, steam pouring out of his pointy ears. "How dare you compare me to common raccoons! My family hasn't rooted people's trash in generations. Besides, I need time to calculate the total cost for the land, materials, and building costs. If you swing by my office tomorrow, I can tell you the amount you'll owe so we can get started on your house."

"That's not reassuring," Melissa muttered.

"Yes, yes. Well, you still need a place to live," Nook dismissed their concerns with a wave of his hand. "Hence the tent. Oh, and I almost forgot." He pulled a wooden mailbox out of nowhere and set it up near the front. "You can also start receiving mail now! As for the rest of you, there are mailboxes set up in front of the animal's house you're rooming in. Though this would make it harder on Pete. Poor guy can never deliver letters and packages right."

Isabelle came running as soon as Sara and Milo finished setting up the tent. To everyone's surprise, the tent only collapsed twice. "Mayor!" she shouted, panting heavily. "I see you've found somewhere to live now! That's great! Oh, and Mr. Nook too? You rarely come into the main part of Fortuna."

"A special occasion, Isabelle," Nook replied.

"Yes, of course!" Isabelle yipped. "Speaking of occasions, I completely forgot to mention there's a big party being set up in the Plaza as we speak. And K.K Slider's there too!"

"What's the party for?" Zack asked.

"A big celebration in honor of our new mayor! There'll be food, music, but the big finish is planting the tree in the middle of the Plaza! Oh, and it's a great way to meet the villagers! You've glimpsed them before, but you don't really know them that well yet, do you?" Isabelle was talking so quickly all her words almost slurred together.

"A party sounds great!" Milo cheered. "Best welcoming gift ever!"

"Yes, yes. Well, I need to finish up at the office," Nook shook Milo's hand. "Nook's Homes opens at 10 sharp tomorrow. Stop by so we can discuss your total cost, hmm?" Humming lightly, he plucked a peach off a nearby tree and snacked on it as he headed back to Main Street.

Sara balled her fists. "I'm going with you tomorrow, Milo. Just so that sneaky raccoon can learn a lesson or two."

"He's always like this on business," Isabelle said. "I know he seems like he just wants your money, but without him we wouldn't have all our public buildings to make life a little more enjoyable. Sable would vouch for him. She's one of his biggest supporters."

"Okay, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt," Sara growled. "For now. If he charges anything outrageous, then I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I promise it won't be anything good."

"Sara, it's fine," Milo said. "Don't worry about me! I mean, if you still want to come, that's all right."

"He's fair," Isabelle added. "For now, come with me! We need to officially make you mayor!"

"It's a good thing we packed those party hats," Melissa stuck a blue party hat on Zack's head.

Zack retaliated with a party popper to Melissa's face. "Aside from the fish, this place is growing on me."

* * *

 _Sara is like one of those people who claim Nook is evil._

 _Isabelle, you're adorable and I love you but you need to tell them important things okay?_

 _Zack's ichthyophobia rears its head._

 _Some of the Happy Home Designer requests are weird as heck._


	4. The Official Mayor

_Don't think I've forgiven you, Coco….I'M REPLACING YOU WITH A TEAPOT ELEPHANT! SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!_

 _Ahem. There's been some…drama in my personal town._

 _Oh, and I finally have the T &T Emporium._

 _Ch 4- The Official Mayor_

* * *

"Let the festivities begin, everybody!" Isabelle shouted, the other animals cheering. They swarmed the buffet table, knocking paper plates and utensils over as they scrambled for food.

A white dog twirled a record on his paw, slipping his shades down and scratching out a beat. "Who is that?" Zack asked an alligator as he grabbed slices of cheese. "He knows how to make some really awesome beats!"

The alligator froze, a toothpick hanging in his mouth in surprise. "Humph. Don't tell me you've never heard of K.K. Slider before, gronk."

"Uh, where I come from dogs don't usually DJ. And my name's not Gronk. It's Zack," Zack said awkwardly, holding out his hand.

"Right. You're one of the mayor's buddies. Name's Del," he said gruffly, giving a curt handshake.

Zack quickly pulled a letter from his backpack. "Oh, so you were my pen pal then. Nook also said I'd be rooming with you."

Del scarfed down a sandwich, burping. "So you're Zack. Can't say you look like the musician type."

Zack laughed. "I get that a lot. I take it you've never heard of the Lumberzacks then?" He piled a delicious looking salad on his own plate, then topped it off with croutons. "Just about everybody back home sings our songs."

"Never mentioned any lumber in your letter," Del said. "Tell ya what. Show me one of your songs sometime and I'll introduce you to K.K. Slider's greatest hits."

"Deal."

* * *

The white doe from the train station sat next to Melissa, her legs curling to the side in a ladylike fashion. "Pardon. Your name is Melissa, correct? I am Diana, named for the goddess of the hunt from ancient times." She sipped her tea, setting the cup down on a floral-patterned saucer with a soft clink.

"Uh, yes?" Melissa raised an eyebrow. "I'm from Swamp City. Named for, um, I have no idea."

"Well then, Melissa from the faraway land of Swamp City, you are to be my roommate for the next several moons. I sincerely hope we can form the greatest of kinships in Crossing Valley." Diana enunciated each syllable carefully, her high-pitched voice raised slightly so Melissa could hear over the music.

Melissa smirked at the odd diction. "Is that how you say friendship around here? Because I hope so too."

Diana laughed, a polished hoof covering her mouth. "Oho! Yes dearie, that is merely my personal way of, as you say, establishing a friendship. Now, I must admit that I am curious about this Milo you always wrote about in your correspondence. Is he your boyfriend, no doy?"

Nearly spewing her lemonade from her mouth, Melissa choked and quickly swallowed. "No, Diana. We're just friends. We've known each other since elementary school."

Not skipping a beat, Diana asked, "Is the boy talking to Del your boyfriend?"

"Again. We're friends. That is all," Melissa said plainly. "Nothing more, nothing less. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to matchmake me over the summer."

"Duly noted," Diana replied. "I deeply apologize for asking those silly questions."

"It's cool," Melissa said. "So you're the oldest child, huh? What's that like?"

Diana tilted her head back, a handkerchief held to her forehead. "Absolutely chaos! Why, let me tell you what Deirdre did when she was but a tiny fawn. It started when I made the mistake of letting her into my prized makeup bag…."

* * *

"Oh my gosh! I'm actually rooming with a real ape! I can put together a Time Ape cosplay for you. But first I'd need the right kind of fabric and some felt for the stopwatch head!" Sara squealed.

"I've always wanted to cosplay," Cesar said, awed. "I don't know how to make my own outfits though."

"I'm thinking I could just make it like the hat Milo's got," Sara mused. "I wouldn't want to cover up your mustache."

Cesar preened, stroking the pointed end with a large finger. "It takes a lot of time and a generous dollop of mustache wax to maintain this beauty, highness."

Sara nodded. "I'll bet. And that goatee is perfectly trimmed too."

Cesar flicked his hand at her. "Flatterer. I'm glad SOME people recognize perfection when they see it!" He raised his voice, glaring at Coco, who was ladling punch nearby. "See, bunny? She knows my facial hair is the epitome of manliness!"

Red liquid dribbled down Coco's face as she drank the punch. Sara stuffed her mouth with crackers, trying to ignore the creepy atmosphere that just radiated off Coco.

"There is another who boasts a mustache far more fabulous than yours," Coco intoned. Cesar went blue with shock, dropping to his knees. She turned to Sara. "Hello, I don't think I've ever heard your name."

"Um, Sara Murphy," she chuckled nervously, extending her hand as a friendly gesture. Coco grasped it slowly, and it took all of Sara's willpower not to pull away as she felt every dry pore and crack on Coco's hand. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Oh yes," Coco said. She let go of Sara's hand to refill her cup. The song changed to a jaunty salsa tune. "This is one of my favorites! You wanna dance?"

"No, but thanks for the offer," Sara said. Coco danced, though her face didn't change as she abruptly changed from swinging her hips to a more formal dance.

Sara bent down to help Cesar up. The ape was surprisingly light, dusting gravel off the bottom of his t-shirt. "If I ever find that guy who supposedly has a better mustache than me, he's gonna get the Cesar Crash treatment!" he exclaimed, pounding his fist into his palm.

"What's the Cesar Crash?" Sara asked.

Cesar gasped. "You don't know my signature move? It's only locally famous! Yo, Del! I need to demonstrate the Cesar Crash for my new roomie!" he called to the alligator, who snapped his jaws in irritation.

"No, Cesar. I refuse to be on the receiving end of your ridiculous move," Del growled, ignoring Cesar as he pleaded even further.

Milo looked up from his conversation with Marshal. "If it helps, I have a dummy you can demonstrate with so nobody gets hurt." The top of his backpack burst, a giant inflatable platypus popping out. It settled on the ground, its mismatched eyes facing Cesar. "I meant to do that."

"Thanks a lot!" Cesar gave a hard slap to Milo's back, sending him sprawling. "Uh, sorry bout that."

"No worries!" Milo grinned. "It's not every day I get to talk to a gorilla, or a chimp, or whatever ape species you are."

"RIGHT!" Cesar bellowed. He tore off his shirt, beating his hairy chest. "LISTEN UP YOU GIANT BEAVER DUCK! HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY AWESOME MUSTACHE! PREPARE FOR THE ULTIMATE MOVE, THE MOTHER OF BEATDOWNS, THE HUMILIATION OF THE ERA-"

Diana sniffed. "It is always uncouth no matter how many times he does this."

"I take it this is a frequent occurrence?" Zack asked.

"Last time this happened he destroyed all my Ms. Nintendique magazines!" Isabelle pouted. "I've collected those since puppyhood!"

"-A ONE APE ARMY, THE CATALYST TO END ALL CATALYSTS, THE CESAR-"

Cesar drummed on his chest one more time, then stomped his feet before squatting. Narrowing his eyes, he barreled towards his opponent. "-CRASH!" He slammed into the bill of the platypus, bouncing off the rubbery material. Smacking his back against a nearby tree, he groaned.

"Right, so now that we've settled that, it's time to plant the tree!" Isabelle clapped her hands, pushing Milo towards the dirt mound in the center of the Plaza.

* * *

Milo looked out towards the crowd. Marshal, Coco, and Cesar could barely contain their excitement. Diana and Del nodded, their happiness much more subdued.

"I packed a spare fire extinguisher," Sara said, holding up a red container.

"And I have the masks and hoses," Melissa said.

"And I'll be over there," Zack gestured to a peach tree he could run and hide behind, but before he could get far Melissa grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled him back.

Isabelle bowed and presented a small sapling to Milo. He cradled it carefully, dirt and roots crumbling in his hand. "Dear animals of Fortuna and our welcomed guests, it is our pleasure to plant this tiny sapling so that it will blossom and grow into a tall, beautiful tree to symbolize the growth of Fortuna! May you find fresh fruit and great catches for many months to come! Milo, step forward and plant the sapling with all your heart and soul," Isabelle declared.

Everyone was waiting. This was it. He had new responsibilities ahead of him and new friends to make. Milo bent down to plant the sapling.

As soon as his fingers brushed the topsoil, the leaves caught fire. Sara quickly put it out with the fire extinguisher.

"The ceremonial sapling!" Isabelle shrieked, her paws flailing. "Ahem, it's okay! Just a freak accident, folks! We'll just use the backup ceremonial sapling!" She handed another sapling to Milo.

"Okay, let's see-yes, welcome one and all, metaphor for starting all over-we all know the drill," Isabelle looked up from her cue cards. "Milo, if you'd please."

The backup ceremonial sapling was planted, but as soon as Milo stepped away, an angry mole popped out of the ground. Isabelle slumped over the remains of the sapling, a heavy cloud hanging over her.

"Melissa, I think we found one of those mole people!" Milo called. "Hi. Me. Milo. Me. Friend. Made. Isabelle. Sad." Each word was accompanied by grand hand gestures.

The mole could only stare in shock before screaming his head off and twirl his pickaxe around. "OH, LOOK AT ME! I'm a surface dweller! I have opposable thumbs and good eyesight!" he mocked. "RESETTI'S my name and scolding's my game! And since this WORM eating, brimstone crushing time stream got all wonky, it left me without a regular job! I used to YELL at humans who messed with the time stream too much without the PROPER precautions, but look at this poor mole now! Nothing to show for it but DIRTY hands and squinty eyes! So, new mayor, have a heart and give this poor, washed out soul his job back."

Isabelle turned around, her eyes a bright, flaming red. There were no pupils, just a soulless bloody void ready to devour whoever tried to oppose her. "YOU. HOW DARE YOU THREATEN THE NEW MAYOR!" she screamed, flames surrounding her in a beautiful, fiery vortex. Sara sprayed the contents of the fire extinguisher on her, but it simply dissipated in the flames. "LISTEN UP, CLOD! YOU DO NOT GO INTERRUPTING OUR CEREMONY AND YOU ESPECIALLY DO NOT DESTROY MY PLANTS! IN THE NAME OF SQUEAKY BONES AND TENNIS BALLS, I SHALL PUNISH YOU!"

A wand with a bell on the tip appeared in her paw. She kissed it before stepping in front of Milo, tapping Resetti's nose with the tip. "The belle of the ball stands out from all the rest to capture the heart of a handsome prince. I call upon her powers to bestow the same luck into banishing the party crasher! BANGING BELL BOOM!"

Everyone covered their ears as a cacophony of invisible bells rang together to herald Resetti's impending doom. A giant pair of wedding bells materialized out of the sky, the hollow end charging up and firing a giant yellow laser at Resetti.

"THIS ISN'T THE LAST YOU'VE SEEN OF ME!" he screamed, ducking into the hole before the laser could engulf him. "DON'T MESS WITH THE TIME STREAM, YA HEAR?" His complaining faded away.

"Oh my gosh!" Sara squealed. "Do you know what this means, Milo?"

"That the true secret to getting rid of moles is an angry canine secretary and bells?" Milo asked.

Sara thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, yes. But also that we know a magical girl now! Dog? Magical animal? The real question is, what kind is she like? Senshi? Pretty Cure? Miraculous? I hope it's not the kind that turns into giant monsters when they've been overwhelmed with despair."

"Actually the correct terminology is Fabulous Fauna!" Isabelle declared. Now that she had calmed down, Milo could see clearly that her outfit had changed into a golden crop top and skirt decorated with tiny bells. Pinned to her ears were several bluebell flowers. "We don't really have secret identities. But enough about me. Plant the sapling, Milo!"

Milo obliged, successfully planting the sapling this time. As a precaution, Sara roped off the area with police tape. Everyone clapped and cheered.

"Swing by Town Hall tomorrow so we can get you started on developing Fortuna," Isabelle yawned. "I'll be taking my leave now. Good night, Mayor Milo."

"We also need to talk to Nook tomorrow," Sara said. "I can always sic Isabelle on him if he doesn't cooperate."

"First it was the talking animals. Then the whole mayor thing. And now anime cliches," Zack muttered. "I'm done for today. Night, Milo."

It took Milo half an hour to say good night to everybody and lie down in his tent. He could hardly wait for the summer to begin! There were adventures waiting in Fortuna and Crossing Valley.

There was definitely more than meets the eye.

* * *

 _Isabelle the magical girl everyone._

 _Cesar is just as nerdy as Sara._

 _Coco is really sweet. I'm still mad at her for leaving…_


	5. Errand Running

_Honestly, you can't expect me to put in a time stream without our favorite time travelers?_

 _Ch 5- Errand Running_

* * *

Balthazar and Vinnie were used to sharing a small, cramped space and the looming threat of eviction if they didn't pay the rent on time. They were accustomed to the Bureau ignoring Balthazar's constant requests for a pay raise. Not to mention occasionally losing the money they made from exploding pistachio carts if a certain boy happened to wander by.

So the whole talking raccoon giving them a place to stay with no set deadline for paying off a home loan thing was still a big shock for them. But like all good things, there was a catch.

And that catch was playing delivery boy for Tom Nook while wearing a ridiculous green work shirt. The shirt clashed horribly with Vinnie's pants, but he didn't mind in the slightest.

In his humble opinion, seeing Balthazar wearing informal clothing was completely worth it. Or at least partly informal. He still kept the dress pants and hat.

"A leaf," Balthazar said in disbelief. "We have to deliver a leaf to a Ms. Eloise."

"No, no!" Nook chortled. "This is a special kind of technology that only exists in Crossing Valley! Since you seem behind the times, I will happily enlighten you. Since it would be rather cumbersome to drag beds and desks with you everywhere you go, we've developed a way to collapse furniture items into a more portable form." He turned the leaf over, revealing a small red button on the stem. "Push this button and it will expand into a piece of furniture you can place into your home."

Vinnie whistled. "That's amazing. Why don't we have anything like that?"

"Because the Bureau would rather watch us suffer than do anything useful," Balthazar muttered.

"Trade secret," Nook winked. "Now, I believe I forgot to give you a town map when you arrived. Forgive the inconvenience. As you can see, Eloise's house is located in Acre B2. Just south of here. Come back in thirty minutes, and I might deduct a few extra Bells from your home loan."

Nook waved them out of the store, humming as he rearranged the tool display. "Dakota, we came here to investigate the disappearance of pistachios from the time stream of Crossing Valley," Balthazar muttered, crumpling the map in his hand. "Not to owe money to an apron wearing raccoon!"

Vinnie shrugged. "I wouldn't mind working for him. He's nicer than Mr. Block. Though maybe it wouldn't hurt to find a better uniform. Green just isn't my color." He coughed. "But hey, it looks good on you! You're green with a fancy mustache."

Balthazar tried not to preen at that. "Well, I don't like to brag or anything but it does take quite a bit of time for proper mustache maintenance. Moving on, let's get this, uh, leaf item thingy which is apparently a green chair to Eloise."

"How do you know it's a green chair?" Vinnie asked. "It could be a UFO, or a video game, or a plant-well, i guess it's technically a plant since it's a leaf but then again it's synthetic so-" Balthazar reached over and pinched Vinnie's lips closed.

"Because the label says 'green chair', you disco loving dolt," Balthazar pointed to a tag on the end of the leaf.

Snow crunched beneath their shoes as they kept an eye out for Eloise's house. Vinnie almost didn't want to tread on it since there was such a pretty star shaped pattern dotting the landscape. He paused in front of a cherry tree, stomach growling at the surprisingly large cherries that hung from the lowest branches. These had to be several times larger than any berry back home. And it was yet another food that had gone extinct in the future.

Vinnie shook the tree, and three large cherries fell down, the bright red skin standing out from the white powder. "You want one?" Vinnie swallowed one with a single gulp, spitting out the pit.

Grimacing, Balthazar declined. "You're really going to eat that without washing it first?"

Vinnie bit into a second cherry. "More for me, I guess."

After walking south for several minutes, they finally found Eloise's house. Smoke poured from a brick chimney, the small house looking more quaint than the one they bought from Nook. Balthazar straightened his hat before knocking twice.

"It's unlocked," Vinnie said, twisting the doorknob.

Balthazar slapped his hand away. "We can't just barge in there unannounced! We'll be arrested for breaking and entering!"

"Didn't you hear Nook when we were looking at the houses?" Vinnie asked. "The houses only lock when the owner isn't around. Though you didn't really care about being arrested when you tried to use a battering ram on the Murphy's back door-"

"I thought we agreed to never mention that incident again," Balthazar hissed, opening the door and shoving Vinnie inside.

"Yay, leprechauns! I'm so happy to meet you! I'm Eloise, toooot!" an elephant cheered. Her entire house was green, with several moneybags stashed in odd places. It looked as though someone had decided to interior decorate with a jungle.

"Um, no actually," Vinnie said. "Balthy and I aren't leprechauns. Now that I think about it, you could easily pass for a leprechaun. A tall, cranky one with a big mustache."

"First of all," Balthazar snapped. "We are not leprechauns. We are the newest residents of Pecanville. My name is Balthazar Cavendish, certified time traveler. And this is my colleague, Vinnie Dakota. We are on a mission to deliver-wait, something wrong?"

"If you aren't leprechauns, then you have no business in my house!" Eloise suddenly whipped out three brooms, clutching one in both arms and trunk. Her eyes blazed ferociously as she stomped her feet and prepared to charge. "You will get a front row seat to my special Three Brooms Style!"

How on earth she held anything without hands was beyond Vinnie.

"Wait, wait!" Vinnie frantically waved his arms, jumping in front of Balthazar. "We do have business here! Tom Nook wanted us to work in his shop for a while, and we have a special delivery for you." He grabbed the leaf and held it out.

Eloise promptly dropped the brooms, squealing happily. "The great Lucky has blessed me with this green chair!" She tapped the button with her trunk, the leaf expanding into a green chair with a cushion in the back. Dragging it over to a small table, she thanked Lucky profusely.

"Now, since you're from beyond Crossing Valley, I assume you've met Lucky before?" Eloise asked.

"I don't know anyone who goes by Lucky," Balthazar grumbled.

Eloise gasped. "How could you not know who he is? Why, when I lived in Ceres, someone there told me about Lucky, a great leprechaun god who could make marshmallows and dry cereal pour from the sky while he relaxed in a river of milk! And whenever he came down to earth, a crowd of children always chased him so they could learn the secrets of his Lucky Charms! Oh, and he has little leprechaun helpers that create rainbow slides and give gold coins to good children! Oh, and please accept this guitar as a gift from Lucky himself." She tapped a button on the neck of the guitar, and it shrunk down into a leaf.

As he pocketed the leaf, Vinnie noticed many portraits of the cereal mascot around the house, with scented candles lit underneath. "We should really get back to Nook. These deliveries aren't going to deliver themselves!" He and Balthazar quickly exited the house.

Behind them, Eloise called, "Prayer is at seven tonight if you wanna join me!"

Vinnie patted Balthazar's back as he fumed. "Relax. What could possibly go wrong around these parts?"

* * *

Nook only deducted 80 Bells for that task, claiming that they were dawdling too much even after Balthazar tried to protest that Eloise held them up with inane ramblings of the leprechaun god.

The next task was to write a letter to a villager named Puck about an upcoming sale. They managed that one in less than five minutes since the post office was next door.

"Yes, yes! Very good, very good!" Nook nodded in approval, carefully handing a long, wrapped bundle to Balthazar. "Your next task is to deliver this ax to Murphy! You will not be able to use it yourself, but handle it carefully all the same!"

"Deliver an ax to Murphy?" Balthazar yelped. "Are you insane?"

"No, no! It's a perfectly reasonable request! Out with you now! And no dilly-dallying!" Nook ushered them out of the shop.

Balthazar twirled the gift-wrapped ax in his hands. "I am officially placing Tom Nook under investigation for having potential ties to Agent Murphy. He must be a weapon supplier."

Vinnie moaned. "I don't want any part of this please. Have you considered maybe there's someone living in Pecanville named Murphy and we're supposed to deliver the ax to him?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Balthazar snapped. "We met all the residents in this backwater town already. Besides, Nook seems awfully quick to get us out of the shop quickly. He's hiding something, and we're going to find out what it is. Luckily, I have reliable sources that point towards Agent Murphy and his accomplices hiding somewhere in Crossing Valley."

Vinnie rolled his eyes. "Reliable sources being one conversation at the dinner table."

"The problem is that there are millions of towns within the time stream, so we must try to narrow it down to a single location," Balthazar mused. "We shall begin where all the time streams converge. Central."

They boarded the train bound for Central, sitting down in a car next to an old boar. "'Scuse me, sirs. Would you like to buy any turnips? Selling 'em for 100 Bells each!" She gestured to a a handmade basket full of turnips on her back.

Balthazar scoffed. "We don't need any sales pitches-oof, get off, Dakota!"

Because the seat was so small, Vinnie had to lean awkwardly over Balthazar so he could peer into the basket. "May I please get two of your largest turnips?" They completed the exchange, the boar counting her payment.

"Thank y'all!" the boar exclaimed. "Old sow Joan is pleased to do business with you lovely folk! Now, if ya'll excuse me, I need to go find that nosy kitty who's always talking it up with strangers he don't know. Gonna be in trouble one of these days, I'm telling ya…."

Joan mumbled to herself as she exited the car, slowly shuffling down the aisle as other passengers ducked her swinging turnip basket.

"You could stand to be nicer," Vinnie commented as he snacked on a turnip. He stopped chewing and made a face. "You want these? They're kinda on the bland side."

Balthazar took one bite and made a face. "What's the point of selling these things if they don't even taste good?"

"MROW-HA-HA!" a cat snickered. They jumped. She definitely hadn't been there before. Two fangs poked out of her mouth as she snickered. "Man, I knew noobs learning the ins and outs of plain old everyday town life could be completely clueless. But this? You two definitely take the mouse, purrty. Cheese, whiskers, and all."

"It's terribly rude to eavesdrop on conversations that are none of your concern," Balthazar retorted.

Vinnie gave him a look. "I think you've maxed out the hypocrite meter today, Balthy."

"His name is Balthy? How embarrassing." she smirked. "The name is Katt. Yes, a cat named Katt. Hilarious, am I right or am I right? Time traveler extraordinaire, not at your service, purrty."

Katt kicked back against the seat so that her legs rested on Balthazar's kneecaps.

"Prove it," Balthazar demanded. "And we are not clueless. We know what we're doing."

Katt lazily flicked her wallet at him. "Sure ya do. Word to the idiot. Turnips are meant to be bought and sold. Not eaten. We've got a little thing called the Stalk Market. If ya wanna get rich quick, ya might want to figure out how to use it."

"I don't care about the turnips, Katt," Balthazar spat her name as if it was poison. "What time traveling organization are you affiliated with?"

In response, Katt flicked out her watch. "I don't work for anyone. I'm a lone cat, purrty." She winked at Vinnie while the gears in her watch wound up. "Your partner is a handful. Makes me glad I'm solitary. Catch ya later!"

With a burst of light she was gone, leaving a charred seat cushion behind.

"Eek eek! Arriving in Central! We are arriving in Central!"

Balthazar and Vinnie set up a pistachio stand as soon as they arrived to bait the target. The ax was hidden inside a compartment, since Balthazar was still indecisive about giving weapons to Murphy.

The animals were completely clueless to the stand's real purpose. A purple squirrel paid for his pistachios and muttered something about persuading the mayor for a pistachio stand public works project.

"Hey, it's those pistachio sellers!" a voice called out, and a boy in a sweater vest politely made his way across the thick crowd of animals. "Didn't think I would be running into you guys here! How are you?"

* * *

A small green bear fished by the ocean, yanking up another sea bass.

"Why does everyone always forget things that I ordered, laddie?" he asked his catch as he held it up to his face, preparing to chow down. The sea bass slapped him in the nose with its tail, escaping back into the water and disappearing into the depths.

"Sure. Forget about me. You're just like everyone else, you know that?," he mumbled. "I need to figure out a way to make animals remember the name of Murphy."

* * *

 _Balthazar and Vinnie are in the Gamecube version of Animal Crossing in winter._

 _Eloise copies Zoro's fighting style in One Piece._

 _Poor Murphy._

 _Don't be rude to your neighbors, Balthy._


	6. Sing the Bells Part 1

_Fun fact about Murphy (the bear, not the kid): He's one of many villagers who were in the Gamecube Animal Crossing, but were taken out in future games until returning for New Leaf's Welcome Amiibo update. So the poor guy is even forgotten by his creators until a few months ago. Poor thing._

 _This chapter is split into two parts since it was getting long._

 _Ch 6- Sing the Bells, Bells, Bells, Bells of Fortuna_

* * *

Milo and Sara had been separated in the crowd around Central on their way to the main office of Nook's Homes. Zack and Melissa were sleeping in, so they decided to just leave them alone for the time being. Out of the corner of his eye, Milo spotted a food stand.

And not just any food stand.

It was a pleasant surprise to find a familiar pistachio stand so far from home. It was even better since he recognized the vendors, two men in rather outdated fashion. Milo wondered where they found those green T-shirts. It didn't go with those dress pants at all. "Didn't think I would be running into you guys here! How are you?" Milo grinned.

Adjusting his tinted glasses, he smiled back. "We're fine, thanks." He nudged his colleague. "Be nice," he whispered. "Did we introduce ourselves last time? I don't remember, but if we didn't, I'm Vinnie Dakota and this sourpuss here is Balthazar Cavendish."

Balthazar's mustache fluttered as he huffed, glowering at Milo. "Pleasure."

"Milo, wait up!" Sara called, not so politely elbowing an elephant out of the way. "Man, this place is busy. Say, weren't you guys selling pistachios across the street from the theater? What are you doing all the way out here?"

Stammering, Vinnie scratched the back of his neck. "I, uh, funny story a-actually. Um, I can't come up with any good excuses."

Balthazar quickly cut in. "Because the competition with those hot dog vendors was getting to be too much! So we, uh, packed up and decided to make a fresh start."

"Um, yeah! Those darn hot dog vendors!" Vinnie said awkwardly. "With their superior technology, and grill, those delicious condiments..." He trailed off at Sara's questioning look.

"I hope your business does well then!" Milo replied. "How much for two bags of pistachios?"

"200 Bells each," Balthazar said. "And because you're our fiftieth customer, we'll toss in an ax for free!" As he scooped the pistachios into two bags, Vinnie carefully handed Milo a long, gift-wrapped bundle.

The wrapping paper crinkled in his hands, and he felt a smooth handle underneath. On one end there a slight opening, allowing Milo to see a gray blade jutting out.

"Kind of an odd thing to give away, don't you think?" Sara asked, taking the ax from Milo so he didn't hurt himself. She stored it in a pouch Isabelle had given to her when she and Milo visited Town Hall earlier that morning. Isabelle had explained that it was designed so that any sixteen items could be placed into the pouch no matter how large the item was. Sara had extras to give to Zack and Melissa.

Milo had declined to take a pouch because he already had his backpack.

Balthazar twirled his mustache with a finger. "It's a promotional stunt. Corporate's orders."

"There's a corporate for pistachio stands?" Milo asked.

Vinnie leaned over to whisper in Milo's ear. "There's always a corporate, kid."

"As nice as it is to catch up, we really should be going. We need to talk to Nook so we can get the total for Milo's down payment." With that, Sara hauled Milo off to Nook's Homes.

Behind him, he heard Vinnie say, "Whoa, they owe money to that Nook guy too? Small world."

* * *

"Welcome, welcome!" Nook greeted. "Now let's talk numbers, shall we?" He gestured to the plush chairs in front of his polished desk, Milo and Sara taking him up on his offer. The office was warm and cozy, several certificates detailing Nook's business endeavors hung neatly above the mantle. A small photo of Nook and an apron-wearing hedgehog sat beside his name plate.

"Don't you dare rip him off," Sara muttered, leaning forward in her chair with her elbows on her knees.

"I'm a fair raccoon," Nook protested. "I like to keep things legal. Crazy Redd's the shady one. Counterfeit paintings. How Copper never threw the book at him, I'll never know. But I digress. Your down payment comes down to a mere 10,000 Bells."

"10,000 Bells?" Sara yelped, leaping to her feet. "We don't have that much money! I warned you, raccoon!"

"Right, right. I forgot," Nook muttered. "You humans have all sorts of currencies. Though the ones from Japan don't complain as much."

Milo placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "Sara, it's fine. With you, Melissa, and Zack, we can get the Bells in no time."

Sara deflated. "You're right. Sorry."

Nook patted her hand. "You aren't the first. Now, coming up with 10,000 Bells is actually not that hard of a task. Shake fruit trees. Native fruit sells for 100 Bells, but ask your villagers if they have foreign fruit they'd like to trade. Those and perfect fruit sell for 500 Bells. You can sell everything at Re-Tail. There's one in every town like yours. Also, buy tools. My nephews would be happy to assist you."

"Thank you for your advice," Milo said. As he tried to stand up, he sunk into the plush chair, his legs sticking out awkwardly. "A little help?" Sara pulled him out, and the cushion sprung back into place.

"It's no trouble at all. Once you collect 10,000 Bells, swing by the office on Main Street before eight tonight so we can discuss putting a roof over your head, hmmm?" Nook led them out to the main lobby.

"See? He's not so bad," Milo pointed out.

"I guess," Sara shrugged.

* * *

Back in Fortuna, Zack and Melissa were waiting for them at the Plaza. "So how'd it go with Nook?" Melissa asked. "Sorry I couldn't come with you. Diana wouldn't let me out of the house until I let her do my hair. She actually managed to tame it for the time being."

Milo poked a small clip in Melissa's hair that held a neat bun together, a few small strands swaying in the breeze. A few seconds later, the clip shot out and smacked Milo in the eye, Melissa's hair exploding outwards in a complete mess.

Melissa shrugged, picking up the clip and slipping it into her jacket. "My hair will never be tamed. Worth a shot though."

"We need to help Milo get 10,000 Bells for his down payment," Sara explained.

Melissa and Zack flinched. "That's way too much!" Zack protested.

Milo shook his head. "It's not actually that hard. There's four of us, so we'll focus on getting 2000 Bells each. Then we can meet up by the Plaza in the evening and pool everything."

"If you say so," Zack said.

Sara handed the pouches to Melissa and Zack, quickly repeating the same information Isabelle told her. "Then what are we waiting for?" Sara threw her arm out, and everyone stacked their hands on top of hers. "These Bells aren't going to make themselves!"

They tossed their hands in the air, cheering. "FOR FORTUNA!"

* * *

"Hi, Nook. I ordered an ax from the store catalog and it hasn't been delivered yet," Murphy said, tapping his foot against the dirt floor.

Nook rubbed his chin. "That's peculiar. Yes, very peculiar. I tasked those humans with the delivery."

"What humans?" Murphy asked. "Why didn't Pete deliver it?" Even if Pete was unreliable in delivering packages and letters to the correct house, his service was still invaluable.

Nook muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Because the last time he attempted to deliver something to your house, he got tipsy with that idiot seagull."

"This is the tenth time he's failed to deliver something to me!" Murphy complained. "And you guys never seem to remember my name!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Mulberry. Of course we do. Now, it's closing time so if you would kindly leave-" Nook tried to gently shove him out of the shop, but Murphy braced himself against the door frame.

"Not until I get that ax. Do you realize how important this is to me? I can't have a tree blocking my view of the sea!" Murphy growled. "It reminds me of my childhood home-agh!"

Nook finally gave Murphy a hard shove and sent him sprawling on the grass, quickly slamming the door and locking it. Murphy spat out a flower petal, coughing.

"That's it. I'm giving those humans a piece of mind. Not a literal piece of my mind, but enough that they'll know I'm fed up with this. And I should stop talking out loud to myself. This is what I get for not having any friends."


	7. Sing the Bells Part 2

_Ch 7- Sing the Bells, Bells, Bells, Bells of Fortuna Part 2_

* * *

Sara shook the peach tree across the river from Town Hall, storing the golden peach in the first compartment so she could easily find and plant it later. She'd need a large space for it, preferably roped off with caution tape so it didn't die from unforeseen circumstances. "Yo, Cesar!" she called to her passing roommate. "My favorite mustached gorilla!"

Cesar beat his chest in pride. "Yup, the one and only! What's up, highness?"

Sara offered him one of the regular peaches. "I'm trying to make some Bells for my little brother. Do you have any non-native fruit on you?"

"Got a coconut leftover from the island. Cesar Crash is useless against this tough nut." To demonstrate, Cesar slammed the coconut against his head. It wasn't even cracked. "And I've been hungry for a while now."

Sara and Cesar swapped fruit. The peach was instantly devoured. Sara secured the coconut in her pouch, surprised that she wasn't weighed down by it at all.

After parting with Cesar and shaking several more peach trees, Sara checked the Town Map that had been included with her pouch, finding that Re-Tail was to the west of the Plaza.

Re-Tail turned out to be a small, bright pink building. A heart was carved into the wooden door, the letters 'R&C' lying in the middle. Inside, a tiny raccoon that resembled Tom Nook was selling a battered old radio to a kindly looking llama with thick pink wool.

Sara prayed they didn't trigger another llama incident.

"I can offer 175 Bells for this tape deck, Timmy," she explained. "Or would you rather set your own price and wait for somebody to buy it?"

"I'd like to sell it for that price please," Timmy said. Sara had seen a lot of strange things in Crossing Valley, but she was still pleasantly surprised at Timmy's polite businesslike tone. Even then, high-pitched voices were hard for her to take seriously.

The llama nodded. "Okay, dearie. And thank you so much for your hard work. You've learned a lot from your uncle, I can tell. Say hello to Tommy for me!"

"I will, Mrs. Reese! I will!" Timmy squeaked, stuffing the bells into his apron. He turned to leave the store, holding out his paw to Sara. She shook it gently. "You're new to town, yes?"

"Yes," Sara confirmed, trying not to comment on how adorable he was. "I'm Sara Murphy."

"I think Uncle mentioned you!" Timmy exclaimed. "He said you're the mayor's older sister! I have to get going, our stock isn't going to organize itself!.Swing by the Nookling Junction sometime! Happy to meet you, so happy!"

Sara bit her tongue to stop herself from squealing over his cuteness. "Sure! I'm happy to meet you too!" Timmy waved his tiny paw and exited Re-Tail, whistling cheerfully.

"Welcome to Re-Tail!" Reese smiled. "It's such an honor to meet the mayor's sister!"

"Um, yeah," Sara said awkwardly. "So do llamas always run shops in Crossing Valley?"

"Just in certain towns within the time stream," Reese replied. "Before that, animals used to sell their things directly to Nook! Can you imagine selling a prized rare coelacanth to that old Bell-pincher? Because I certainly can't! And just to be clear, my Cy-guy and I are alpacas. Not llamas." She laughed airily.

Sara grimaced at the thought of having to see Tom Nook more than she had to. "Yeah, sorry about that. We had a bad experience llamas about a year ago. It's a long story."

Reese nodded. "Understandable. If you have any items you need to sell, come to Re-Tail. You can also sell to the Nooklings, but I wouldn't recommend it. They can only pay a tiny portion of the selling price. In addition, we pay a premium for one item a day. The item will be listed on the board just outside the door."

"So what about the items behind you?" Sara asked, noticing a small bed and a chair up for display. Apparently Marshal had been doing a lot of redecorating.

"This is the fun part!" Reese exclaimed. "You can also put items up for sale so that others can buy them and set the price yourself. There's another service we offer, but right now my poor Cy-guy worked himself to the bone with that new paint job and is taking a small nap. When he's ready, he can tell you all about refurbishing your items."

She gazed into the other side of the shop, where a blue alpaca was sprawled across the workbench, snoring loudly. A small fleck of drool dropped onto a power drill beneath him.

"Your Cy-guy, huh?" Sara asked, flinching when Reese suddenly pushed her snout into her face.

"Cyrus, my husband," Reese growled, her voice low. Sara could practically feel the word 'doom' emanating off her wool. "Don't even think about disturbing him." She was suddenly unlike the matronly Reese she had seen before.

"Uh, okay, leave him alone. Sure," Sara backed up, opening her pouch. "How much for these peaches and coconut?"

"Let's see, so you want to sell 20 peaches and a coconut? So that's 2,000 for the peaches, and including the premium for the coconut, that puts the total value at 2,500 Bells. Unless you want to sell your perfect peach too?"

"No, I was going to plant that. Try my hand at gardening," Sara admitted. "2,500 Bells is fine."

Reese placed all the fruit in a large basket, setting it on a table. She produced a Bell bag from her apron, handing it to Sara. "If you're going to plant that perfect peach, first you'll need a shovel. I'd suggest visiting the Nookling Junction on Main Street."

Sara turned to leave. "I will. Thank you so much!"

"No problem, dear. And make sure you tell any of your female friends to leave my Cy-guy alone!"

* * *

Zack stared apprehensively at the fishing pole in his hand, then at Del. "You wanted to make money, gronk. Lucky for you I had a spare fishing pole lying around," Del grumbled. He cast his line into the ocean with a lazy flick of his wrist, reclining against the banana tree behind him.

"Shouldn't there at least be a hook or bait somewhere?" Zack asked, paling when Del pulled up a large green fish.

"Ugh. First rule of fishing," Del said as he tossed it back into the ocean. "Sea bass are complete garbage. Only good for bottom feeding and not much else."

Zack swallowed, mentally counting to three before he threw his own line. The bob was barely in the water, but a tiny shadow approached it anyway. He pulled it out, and the shadow sunk back into the depths. "Oops," he chuckled. "Guess I'm just a bad fisherman."

"Nonsense," Del mumbled. "Just need a little practice. Watch for a large splash. Don't reel in too early or it'll get away."

"Um, right," Zack kicked a seashell aside. This time he stood where the tide splashed his sneakers. He threw his line out as far as it would go, a red fin peeking out of the water. It touched the bob twice before Zack saw a large splash, and the pole bent as Zack yanked up while the fish swam in circles.

Finally a red fish broke through the surface, the momentum sending it flying in Zack's face. "Oh, snap!" he screamed and dashed behind a rock, wiping his nose with a sleeve to get that icky feeling off. He could feel the slime oozing into his pores...

Still hyperventilating, he watched Del remove the fish from the abandoned pole and hold it up by the tail. "So you're one of those guys who puns after every catch?" he said in disapproval.

"I wasn't punning," Zack retorted. "It's a natural reaction when a fish comes in ten feet of me."

"Funny choice of words there, gronk. That was a red snapper you caught there. Uncommon, but worth a lot more than sea bass. Worth 3000 Bells too. That's over the amount you needed."

"Well, yeah. I'm glad it only took one fish, but..."

"Not you too!" Del moaned, his jaws snapping in irritation. "Ugh, I knew a gator with ichthyophobia once too and he was just as much of a pain in the scales."

Zack chuckled, his shoulders relaxing. "So how much of a pain in the scales am I compared to him?"

Del thought for a moment. "You don't even compare, kid. He was worse. At least you seemed to like my electric guitar collection. Anyway, let's get this darn fish to Re-Tail. I'll carry it, I don't mind sliming up my pockets but I guess you care a bit more. And after that I'm showing you how to catch bugs. Maybe you'll stink at it less than fishing."

"I thought you said I just needed a little practice?" Zack laughed.

Del crossed his arms. "No. You are definitely the worst fisherman I've ever met."

* * *

"Hi, Melissa. What are you doing, doyoing?" Coco asked curiously. Melissa slammed the shovel against a rock, the recoil sending her stumbling back into a tree. A pill bug popped out and burrowed into the ground.

Wiping her forehead, Melissa leaned against the handle in exhaustion. "What's up, Coco? Diana put me up to it. She's looking for gold ore so she can have a 24-karat bathtub. And I need at least 2000 Bells to help with Milo's down payment."

"Do not mock the centerpiece of my dream home," Diana said sternly. "Ms. Nintendique says a golden bathtub is absolutely vital for soft fur. But seeing as our mayor needs a home, I would graciously allow her to give him any Bells we find on our outing."

"Karat?" Coco wondered. "Is that edible? Diana, you're so funny! Just because I'm a bunny doesn't mean I want to have a bathtub made of carrots! How would it hold the water?" She tilted her head back and laughed, the pitch black hole where her mouth was supposed to be not moving.

Diana's ear twitched. "It is not a vegetable, no doy. It is a measurement that determines how pure gold is."

"Oh, I guess it's right up your alley then, Diana!" Coco exclaimed.

Diana's lip quirked up. "Ladies do not have alleys. We have balconies. Now, we have attempted this rock many times and come up empty. Let us move onto the one by the bridge."

Coco wanted to try, so Melissa gladly surrendered the shovel to her and sat on the ground next to Diana, who'd set up a folding chair in the shade. The rabbit only tapped the head of the shovel against the rock. "You have to put your muscles into it!" Melissa shouted encouragingly. To herself, she questioned if Coco had any muscles with that brown, crumbly body of hers.

Obviously she'd need some kind of muscular or skeletal system to hold her up.

When the rock by the bridge didn't yield anything, they moved onto the rock just south of Re-Tail. Coco prepared to hit it, but Melissa noticed that one of her long ears (Growths? Weirdly shaped horns?) had a crack running through the middle.

"Coco, you have a crack in your ear. You might want to go take care of that," Melissa suggested.

"Thanks for the warning. Don't worry about me. I have special patches at home for this sort of thing," Coco said, giving the shovel back to Melissa. "Good thing it's just my ear this time and not my legs." She bowed politely to Diana and left.

"Before you ask dear, there was-how shall I say it-incident a few weeks ago where Coco's legs were stuck in a deep hole when she stepped on a pitfall seed. She hauled herself out of the hole but without her legs. She managed to drag herself to Cesar's house and scare the daylights out of him," Diana explained. "Isabelle and I had to retrieve her legs and handling those was not good for my manicured hooves."

Melissa paled at the thought of Coco lying in the grass without her legs, creeping along like a zombie straight out of bad horror flicks she and Milo liked to watch, those empty gaping holes in her head gazing skyward...

She quickly hit the shovel against the rock, shattering it into several small pieces. Digging through the rubble, she uncovered a jagged blue crystal. Diana clicked her tongue in annoyance. "A sapphire. Not remotely what I desire."

"Looks valuable enough." Melissa carefully stored it, taking care to avoid the sharp points. "This should put me at 2,000 Bells. Hope Milo's doing okay."

* * *

"There! We'll duck into Town Hall! They'll go away once we take shelter!" Marshal screamed. "This is why fruit trees are the only kind of trees that can be trusted, sulky!"

While they were shaking trees to collect Bells, Milo had accidentally disturbed a beehive. As a result, they were now fleeing from an incredibly swarm of stinging insects. He was fairly certain that Sara was going to lecture him later about leaving the smoker and beekeeping suit at home.

"For someone who's being chased by bees, you look awfully calm about it right now!" Marshal panted, falling a few paces behind Milo. He grabbed the squirrel's paw and pulled him along so the swarm wouldn't catch him.

Milo shrugged. "This isn't the first time I've been chased by a swarm of bees. There was that time Dad forgot his lunch and Mom and I went to deliver it to him when the construction site he was inspecting was engulfed by a swarm after a pipe had been dropped on their nest. Oh, this one's a good one. There was another time these kids were building a Time Bee-hicle made entirely out of honeycomb and they invited practically every Dr. Zone fan in the Tri-State Area to come and see. Sara's got all the pictures if you wanna see sometime. Long story short, a group of honey badgers that had escaped from the Danville Rescue Center hijacked the Bee-hicle and drove it into a truck transporting hives to various honey farms. You can probably guess what happens next."

Finally reaching the pavement in front of Town Hall, they scrambled for the doorknob. "Hurry, the buzzing's getting louder!" Marshal glanced over his shoulder to find that the swarm was becoming more frantic as they closed in. The door finally swung open, and they rushed inside, surprising a sleepy Isabelle.

Milo tripped on the welcome mat as soon as he was inside, and Marshal nearly stumbled over him as well in his haste to close the door. As a precaution, he also bolted and locked it, setting a potted plant in front of the door for good measure. The swarm buzzed angrily outside before slowly dissipating.

"Hello, Macaroni," Isabelle yawned, clutching the pencil bag she was using as a pillow. "Can I have you as a side with baby back ribs and a doggy bag please? No, not for me silly. I don't think they make doggy bags large enough for secretaries."

"Sorry to barge in, Isabelle," Milo said. "But we were out gathering Bells and we managed to disturb a beehive. We're just hiding out here until they go away."

Isabelle giggled. "That's okay, Macaroni-" Suddenly her eyes shot open, and she fumbled with a paper that had stuck to her face while she was asleep. "Maca-uh, I mean, Mayor! Great to see you, Mayor! I'm so sorry I fell asleep when I was supposed to be doing paperwork! It won't happen again, I swear! I'll drink more coffee from now, ugh, but we need the Roost because nobody brews a mocha like Brewster!"

"You should take a rest," Milo suggested. "I don't mind."

"He's right." Marshal took a sip out of the water cooler by the door, giving a cup to Milo. "You work yourself to the bone. If the prettiest secretary in the world were to faint from sleep deprivation, I might just have to play the gallant prince who wakes her up with a true love's kiss."

"Teehee! You two are sweeter than my mother's chocolate cake! While you're here, can I get you anything?" Isabelle laughed.

Marshal leaned against the counter with one elbow, sighing. "Milo here doesn't have a tool to make Bells quickly. I was hoping you would show us some of that generous nature that is this fair land's pride and joy."

"I do have this bug net." Isabelle pulled a large net out of her pouch, examining the handle carefully. "But with my secretary duties I've been too busy lately to actually go out and catch a few butterflies. So just this once, I'll be more than happy to gift this net to our esteemed mayor!"

Milo swung the net experimentally, knocking over a portrait of Tortimer. Isabelle yelped and rushed to restore it to its proper place. "Wow! Thank you so much! Sorry about the picture."

"No trouble!" Isabelle grunted, hefting the frame back onto its hook. "You just worry about getting those Bells! Don't mind me!"

Saying goodbye to Isabelle, they opened the door a tiny crack to check for bees. Marshal sighed in relief. "They always give up if you can make it to a building. There's a good side to this. We can backtrack and pick up the beehive. Sells for the same amount as non-native fruit."

"That's good," Milo said, humming lightly. "Hey! A butterfly!" A small white butterfly fluttered by, landing on Milo's nose.

Marshal waved his paw in front of Milo's face, gently shooing the butterfly away. "Common butterflies don't sell for that much. What we need is an Agrias or Raja Brooke. It might take some time though. They aren't exactly common, sulky."

"It's no issue!" Milo said, carefully picking up the beehive. It was slightly sticky, so he also wrapped it in in plastic before placing it into his backpack.

They waited for ten minutes before a blue and red butterfly flew past, landing on a yellow rose in the shade of a tree. "That's an Agrias! We're in luck!" Marshal whispered excitedly. "Catch it while it's resting, because this species tends to be rather fast."

Milo slowly inched forward, his net raised above his head. He swung too soon, the net landing on the grass in front of the flower. The butterfly took off, its wings beating furiously as it tried to escape. "After it!" Milo hollered.

Marshal whipped out his own net and swung at the butterfly, the head slamming onto a tree trunk instead. He growled in frustration.

The butterfly quickly zipped across the bridge. Milo almost tripped on the cobblestone, but caught himself just in time.

"Don't let it escape to the ocean!" Marshal yelled, swinging his net in random directions. There was a soft thud, and Marshal chuckled nervously. "Well, fancy meeting the Huntress here," he said to a scowling Diana. "If you'll excuse me, madam, I must help Milo catch a butterfly, but you are always welcome to watch."

Diana made an indignant noise and turned her back on him.

"We'll catch up later," Marshal winked before rejoining Milo, who'd finally caught the butterfly just as it reached the cliff. Marshal pulled Milo back before he could fall over the edge.

"I caught it!" Milo exclaimed, peering into the net to see the butterfly resting at the bottom. He dropped it into an empty glass jar, adding a few green leaves and flower petals as well.

"You're a natural!" Marshal exclaimed. "Best bug catching I've ever seen!"

Del, who was watering flowers nearby, rolled his eyes. "You almost trampled my tulips, hit Diana in the face, and nearly fell off a cliff. I thought Zack's fishing skills were abysmal, but you're giving him a run for his money with your horrible butterfly catching."

"Spoilsport," Marshal muttered.

* * *

Once it was evening, the group met up at the Plaza to pool their earnings. "I heard about your bug catching exploits," Sara said to Milo. "I told you we should've brought the beekeeping suit and smoker."

Melissa imitated Diana's posh accent, pretending to sip from a teacup with her pinky extended. "'Ladies do not hold grudges. However, the next time I see that flirtatious squirrel I shall hang him up by the tail and leave him on the clothesline.' Her words, not mine."

"Del just likes to hear himself complain," Zack said. "But he's kind of nice once you get to know him."

As they recalled their adventures, Milo gathered the 10,000 Bells he needed. Sara, Melissa, and Zack had tossed all their Bells in, but Milo insisted that he only wanted the original amount they'd agreed upon.

"I couldn't have done this without you guys!" Milo exclaimed. "Thanks a lot!"

"Come on, bro," Sara grinned. "I believe there's a raccoon who owes you a house."

Ten minutes later, Milo proudly handed the entire down payment to Nook, whose eyes gleamed happily at the money bag before him. "Yes, yes! Everything is in order! Work shall begin at once, hm? Before I phone the construction company, you may also select the color of the roof! We only offer red, blue, yellow, and green at the beginning, but you can always customize it to your liking later on!"

"I'd like red please," Milo replied.

"Red it is!" Nook wrote it down on a post it. "Your new home will be ready by morning. Come back tomorrow so we can discuss the cost of your first home loan!"

"Wait, tomorrow?" Zack asked. "There's no way anyone can build something that quickly!"

Sara put a hand on his shoulder. "You obviously don't hang around inventors."

"I'd better find a place to sleep tonight," Milo said. "Can I crash with one of you guys?"

Nook chortled. "No need for that. You won't even know there's construction surrounding you! I guarantee they won't disturb your sleep."

"Things work differently in Crossing Valley," Melissa said. "You'll feel so much better once you stop questioning it."

* * *

 _In which Diana holds a grudge, Del is a grump, Marshal flirts, Coco is nice but creepy, and Cesar is Cesar._


	8. Home Sweet Home

_It would be really amusing to me if Animal Crossing had their own version of those shows on HGTV with the home improvement and vacation home stuff._

 _Ch 8- Home Sweet Home_

* * *

Milo rubbed his eyes, feeling the hardwood against his bare feet. The small bed was surprisingly comfortable, though he definitely preferred the height his loft bed at home gave him.

Wait, hardwood?

"Hello, mayor!" a voice chimed.

Milo yelped and fell back on his bed in surprise, banging his head against the wall with a hard thud. "Morning Isabelle. Ow," he groaned, feeling a dull throb.

"Oh my gosh! Mayor, are you all right?" Isabelle yelped, grabbing his head and checking for bruises. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Digby is always telling me I need to stop waiting by animal's beds for them to wake up because it's creepy and I wasn't being creepy, was I? Don't call Copper on me! Please don't!"

"I don't know who that is, but I promise I won't tell him," Milo said. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Isabelle tentatively held out several wrapped presents. "I wanted to be the first to see your new home. And I brought you housewarming gifts!"

Milo opened the first present, unwrapping a yellow wallpaper with pawprints covering every inch. "This is a really pretty wallpaper," Milo said.

"You really like it?" Isabelle blushed, her tail wagging. "I made it just for you!"

Milo glanced at the small room, eyes flicking between the bright yellow wallpaper he held and the unsightly dull gray that currently covered the walls of the house. "Would you mind if I put this up now?" he asked. "The walls right now look kind of, um..."

Isabelle squealed, then clapped a paw over her mouth in horror. "Sorry. I'm just really happy you like it so much. And yes, I agree. Your current wallpaper is much too depressing. Anyway, to change the wallpaper, just tap the wall with the one you're holding."

Milo obeyed, and Isabelle's wallpaper unfurled and spread through the house while the gray curled and folded in, finally dropping in a heap into Milo's lap. "I wish redecorating was this easy at home," he laughed. "One time we were painting the guest room and I wasn't watching where I was going and I stepped in an entire can of orange paint. Then my dad got his entire arm stuck in a roll of blue tape."

The second present was a special set of coffee from Brewster. "We don't have the Roost yet in this town, but Digby knows Blathers who's buddies with Brewster," Isabelle explained. "Speaking of the Roost, I should put that on the list of public works projects. And onto the topic of public works project, we can now get somewhat started on your duties as mayor. However, before you can start improving the town, first of all you'll need a 100% approval rating."

Milo nodded. "Okay, I can do that. I think..."

"I know it seems like a lot, but the residents already like you. If you go around helping them today, you can get your rating up to 100% in no time! The good news is, you're already at 35%, which is pretty good considering this is only your third day," Isabelle cheerfully said. "Now, why don't you unwrap that last present?"

Milo held up a lantern, which he set up in a far corner. "Thanks for everything, Isabelle," he said as they exited the house. He took the coffee set with him so he could share it with the others.

"No problem, mayor," Isabelle said. "I'm going to get back to Town Hall. You know. Paperwork as usual. Toodles!"

There was a creaking noise underfoot, and Milo stepped off a slab of wood. Now he noticed the giant pile of scrap materials that a group of raccoons were clearing away.

"Excuse me," Milo said to a heavyset raccoon. "What's going on?"

The raccoon chewed the twig in his mouth before responding. "That darn house kept collapsing on us when we tried to remodel it! Told my cousin not to put newbies in charge of the roof, but would he listen to me? No, course not! Took until five this morning before the house actually looked like a house!"

Milo examined the exterior of his new house, made of solid white brick. Tom Nook had delivered on the red roof, a chimney standing proudly in the back. There was a beep coming from the mailbox, and Milo pulled out two letters. The first was from Marshal, written on blue and white stationary.

 _Yo, Milo!_

 _Thanks for a great time yesterday! Reminds me of firefly hunting with my siblings when I was little. My mom freaked when I swallowed one, but it made my mouth all tingly and glowy so I just kept stuffing my cheeks with them. Let's continue being friends!_

 _Cool as a cucumber, Marshal_

There was a shirt attached to the letter. "A gelato tee?" Milo wondered. "Well, he's got good taste!" He decided to put it on for the day, stuffing his normal sweatervest and shirt into his backpack. He reminded himself to thank Marshal later.

He read the second letter on the way to the Plaza. There wasn't a name attached, but whoever wrote it thought he'd do a good job as mayor and congratulated him.

Sara was already at the Plaza, several pastries lying on a plate next to her. Milo set the coffee down, sitting on the cobblestone and biting into a large peach. "Where'd the coffee come from?" Sara asked.

"Isabelle. She was in my house when I woke up," Milo explained. "I'm not really sure how they built a house around me. I didn't even wake up once."

"I wonder how many times it collapsed," she said casually, taking a bite of her toast.

"There was a large pile of debris outside my house that the construction crew was hauling away," Milo said. "So probably a few. Where are Zack and Melissa?"

Sara pointed to Main Street. "Melissa's visiting Lottie in Central. I think Zack is donating a few things things to the Museum right now. I don't have anything planned for today though, so I can help you do whatever you need to do."

Milo grinned. "That's perfect! Isabelle says I need to raise my approval rating so I can actually do stuff as mayor. I'm thinking I should go around and help the villagers today."

"Well, I definitely approve of my little brother," Sara gave a thumbs up. "Melissa and Zack too. You seem like great pals with Marshal already, but I don't think you know the other animals too well."

"Then it's time to fix that!" Milo exclaimed.

* * *

"Gronk! Get off me! You two are scraping away my scales!" Del snarled. Zack and the museum curator, Blathers, were currently using Del as a gator jungle gym so they could get away from the horrible monstrosities that laid before them.

That is, if one considered ladybugs and sweetfish horrible monstrosities.

"I think it's staring at me!" Zack shrieked.

"Hoo-hoo! Ladybugs can emit powerful chemicals if threatened," Blathers fearfully clung to Del's jaw, trembling. "Are we threatening right now? I'll have that smell on my wings for weeks!"

Del stumbled around for a few seconds before tripping over his tail, landing on his back painfully. Zack extracted himself from Del's stomach, carefully prying Blathers' wings from Del's jaw.

"Both of you put those creatures into the proper exhibit. If you'll excuse me, I have a flower garden to attend to." With that, Del stood up, shaking his head and muttering curses. The door slammed behind him, causing a little plaster to rain down from the ceiling.

"Hoo!" Blathers hooted. "He's something all right. And you room with that guy?"

Zack shrugged. "He was willing to show me his electric guitar collection. Moving on, we should really get these to the exhibits. I don't mind taking the ladybug if you'll handle the sweetfish. I can't wait to get that dead-eyed stare off me."

Zack approached the ladybug's container carefully, picking it up at arm's length so he didn't get too close to the sweetfish. The ladybug inside rested on a leaf placidly, not moving when the container was slightly jostled. Blathers grabbed the small tank that held the sweetfish and left for the fish and sea creature exhibit.

The only sound from the bug exhibit was the tapping of Zack's shoes. There were all sorts of plants, from cedars, fruit trees, and flowers, but he didn't hear anything that sounded remotely like an insect. Zack normally disliked too much noise, but now there was too little of it. It creeped him out.

In the next room over, Zack found a post that marked the ladybug's habitat, but there was no other text that gave more information about the insect. "Bye, bye, little ladybug," Zack said as it flew out and landed on a white rose.

"Doesn't the museum seem a little empty?" Zack asked Blathers once he returned, his feathers slightly wet.

"Yes, well, seeing as Fortuna is a new town, it can't be helped," Blathers sighed. "It's my dream to see every exhibit filled up, though that could take a long time, with the scarcity of some of these creatures. Anyhoo, you did a great job handling that ladybug. If it wouldn't be so much trouble, perhaps you could stop by every now and then to help with the bugs? I'm afraid of creepy-crawlies, you see..."

Zack nodded. "I'll be sure to tell everyone that they should try to donate their catches. Also, I don't mind the bugs if you'll take care of the fish. At least bugs don't have gaping mouths and gills."

* * *

"So what's on the to-do list?" Milo asked.

Sara glanced at the checklist. "Deliver a package to Diana that was given to Cesar by in a post office mix-up, find furniture for Coco, and catch a zebra turkeyfish for Del."

"A zebra turkeyfish? Those exist? What kind of animal is that anyway?" Milo said.

"The lovechild of a striped equine, Thanksgiving dinner, and a scaly marine creature," Sara suggested, wiggling her fingers. "Legends say it comes after those who dare to laugh at its name."

Milo laughed, his voice an octave lower. "You're mocking the ancestral name of the zebra turkeyfish, Sara Murphy. You will be eliminated by the the kraken."

Sara ruffled his hair. "I don't think being a demonic zebra turkeyfish will do wonders for your approval rating."

After messing around, they found Diana relaxing on a hammock by her house. A pair of sunglasses was over her eyes, her polished hooves holding up a screen. She hummed contentedly, her legs crossed in relaxation.

"Hey, Diana!" Milo greeted, tripping over a stool next to the hammock. He threw out an arm to catch himself, his hand accidentally catching on the hook that attached the hammock to the tree trunk.

Diana let out a not so ladylike scream as the hammock flipped over and sent her crashing to the grass below. The screen landed on her head, covering her eyes. Milo quickly helped her up. "Sorry, didn't mean for that to happen. Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am quite fine," Diana said coolly, her gaze flicking over to Sara. "Both of you shall mention this incident to nobody. I have an image to maintain. And in return I shall gladly accept your apology."

"We have a package for you," Sara said. Milo handed Diana a letter, attached to a small box. "It was delivered to Cesar by mistake. I had to put it in my pouch for safekeeping because he kept going on about how 'anything Diana orders will ruin my mustache'. Then he attempted to Cesar Crash it and managed to break the couch."

"That fool," Diana sighed. "I must have a word with him later. I insist that I repay with you with this alpine dresser. Please accept it."

She handed him a leaf, then started rolling up the hammock.

"Now we help Coco find some furniture," Sara said. "Um, any ideas of what that rabbit is into?"

* * *

"We heard about your roomie program, and we're like, so totally interested!" a white cat exclaimed as Melissa walked through the door of Nook's Homes. "But the other towns are destroying our vibe, like, I don't go anywhere without Kiki, mweee!" She clung to her companion, a black cat who shuffled nervously.

Kiki opened her mouth to say something, but Lottie cut her off. "Then I think I know the town just for you! The mayor is fresh off the train, he needs all the help he can get to develop Fortuna! And oh, you're timing is perfect, Melissa!" Before Melissa could say anything, Lottie wrapped an arm around her shoulders with a wide grin. "This is Melissa! She's a friend of the current mayor of Fortuna! Melissa, I'd like you to meet Merry and Kiki!"

Melissa awkwardly waved. "Hi." Everyone covered their ears at Merry's loud squeal.

"O.M.G. You know the mayor of your town?" Merry suddenly started to inspect her closely. "I can totally believe that. Like, look at the stitching of her jacket. This is Gracie style quality. What do you think, Kiki?"

Kiki shifted from paw to paw, nervously wringing her paws. "Does your town have tuna in it?" she asked.

"I don't know about tuna, but there's plenty of other fish in the sea," Melissa replied. "Though my friend Zack is afraid of them."

"Why? Fish are adorable!" Kiki's eyes widened.

Melissa could think of a few species of fish that she would never consider adorable, but didn't say that aloud. "He has a lot of phobias."

"Like, if you're okay with Fortuna then I'm okay with it too!" Merry exclaimed. "And the best part is, we know Melissa who knows the mayor and that makes us celebrities by association!"

"Well then, in that case, let's get to work on your house!" Lottie struck a pose as Merry cheered and hugged Kiki. "You wanna help us out here, Melissa?"

"All those interior design shows my dad likes to watch have prepared me for this moment," Melissa said.

* * *

The bonfires cast an eerie glow on the already creepy moving statues. Milo poked one out of curiosity, then jumped back as it emitted a long, mournful howl.

"The Howloids are my favorites," Coco said. "I want to be surrounded by Gyroids. They make the most beautiful sounds. Besides, I can't sleep without them."

Sara stayed by the door so she couldn't see those gaping black eyes watching her every move. "Yeah, I bet these things have some pretty good lullabies."

"Anyway, do you think you two could go find another for me?" Coco asked. "I'd go with you, but my room needs a little rearranging."

"Sure!" Milo exclaimed, taking care to not get too close to the flames that were a little too large for his liking. "As my dad always says, when a rabbit asks you to do a favor for them, don't refuse or they'll move into your basement!"

"You can usually find them buried in the ground," Coco supplied as they exited the house. "Happy digging, doyoing!"

Sara pulled a shovel out of her pouch. "Good thing I bought this. Timmy said to look for star-shaped patterns on the ground to dig up."

"Like this one?" Milo pointed to one in the shade of a tree, then stepped on it out of curiosity. The ground immediately collapsed, leaving Milo stuck up to his waist in a hole.

Sara promptly dropped her shovel and pulled Milo out. "Let's avoid stepping on them in the future," she suggested.

* * *

"Mweee, Fortuna is so amazing!" Merry exclaimed. "And I love that we're near a bridge! This is going to be inspirational for my sketching, I can tell!"

The two cats had decided they wanted to be near a river, so Melissa and Lottie led them back to Fortuna. Once they'd scouted out a location, Lottie handed Melissa a small electronic device. "That's a portable catalog," Lottie explained. "It makes things a lot easier so we don't have to deal with the hassle of moving in by hand. Maybe you could give it a go?"

"Um, sure?" Melissa slid a stylus out of a side hole and tapped it, and a screen with several notes that Lottie had taken earlier popped up. "So an artsy room to sketch for Merry, and an aquarium for Kiki?"

"I couldn't leave Finn behind," Kiki mumbled. "He'd be lonely without me."

Melissa raised an eyebrow. "Who's Finn?"

"Her goldfish!" Merry exclaimed. "He's not a good subject. At all. Keeps trying to hide every time I try to draw him. Humph!"

"Residents have a few keepsakes when they move," Lottie explained. "You'll have to include them while designing a room. Now, we'll begin with the exterior. Let the magic happen!"

"I know you'll pick something so us, Melissa!" Merry cheered. Kiki simply gave a thumbs up.

"It's your house. You sure you don't want to choose?" Melissa asked.

They shook their heads, so Melissa decided to go with the simple medium house. She tapped the option with the stylus, and a house immediately sprung into existence. She blinked in surprise. "Okay, that's cool. So if you guys can build a house like this, which wouldn't even take an hour, what was with the construction crew at Milo's this morning?"

"Oh, we always manually build the mayor's home," Lottie waved a paw dismissively. "Other than the Plaza, the mayor's home should always be representative of the town! The process we're going through right now makes it easier on the animals. This way, they'll be ship-shape for town life straight away!"

Melissa picked out the gray brick roof and white chalet exterior. Some of the options were...interesting, for lack of a better word. Some were too bright on the eyes, others looked as though they wouldn't hold up the house at all.

And just who in their right mind wanted their house to be made out of cardboard?

Two mailboxes, both decorated with cat paw prints, were placed on both sides of the door. "You're so good at this design thing!" Merry exclaimed.

"I guess you wouldn't believe me if I said this was my first time," Melissa said.

* * *

"Thanks for the Poltergoid!" Coco exclaimed, lovingly placing her new Gyroid, which wailed like a ghost at regular intervals, next to the rest of her collection. "Here's a gift! I hope you'll associate this with me from now on!"

Milo stored the leaf in his backpack. "No problem, Coco! Just let me know if you need any more favors!" Sara only waved.

Coco bowed politely as they exited her house. "Before we get started on the last favor, I'd like to get these fossils to the museum," Sara said. "I am literally carrying the rib cage of a dinosaur right now. All I need is an explorer's hat so I can act like Fern in the Mesozoic Panic arc. By the way, what did Coco give you?"

"A skeleton," Milo said. "I'm not sure where she managed to find one of those."

"Dug it up like we did with the fossils?" Sara suggested. "We need to stop speculating. Crossing Valley is more confusing than attempting to pace out the entire Dr. Zone timeline across all continuities."

"It's the best thing you can do!" a voice sung. Milo opened the door to the museum a little, peeking in through the crack. Sara leaned over his backpack, giggling quietly. Inside, Zack and Blathers had apparently taken a break from cleaning the lobby and were now jamming out to The Bettys. Zack in particular was really into the song, using a broom handle as a microphone and dipping it as his hips swished from side to side.

Milo pushed the door open all the way. "Hi, Zack! I like your song cover!"

"Get ready for the Bettys, cause the Bettys are ready for-MILO!"

Zack looked like a deer in the headlights, going wide-eyed when he spotted Milo clapping, then slammed a fist on the stop button of the radio. He dropped the broom and kicked it out of sight, chuckling nervously.

Blathers tried to regain his professional demeanor, straightening his bow tie with a wing. "Welcome to the Fortuna Museum!" he said awkwardly.

"You didn't see anything!" Zack exclaimed. "I wasn't singing to an all female pop rock band!" An album for the Bettys fell out of his pocket. "I have no idea who the Bettys are!"

"Actually we came by because we found two fossils," Sara said. "But the show was pretty great too."

Blathers' eyes lit up. "Hoo! Give them to me so that I can identify them please!" Sara obliged and pulled a large ribcage and what appeared to be an ancient sea creature out of her pouch. "Hoo, and double hoo, we certainly don't have an ammonite in our collection yet! These ancient creatures lived in the Devonian period, and are thought to be one of the oldest ancestors of mollusks today! Quite interesting! And they survived up until the extinction of the dinosaurs. Hardy, yes. Very hardy. Oh, there I go running my beak."

"Don't ask about the rib cage," Milo said. Zack closed his mouth.

"And this T-rex torso is marvelous to behold! King of beasts, indeed! Though it pales in comparison to quite a few sea creatures, a fact sadly forgotten nowadays. But, 40 feet is still an impressive length!" Blathers stored both fossils in his wings. "I'll be sure to get these up faster than Gracie can spot an imperfection! Thank you for your generous contribution!"

"So, we're forgetting about a few minutes ago, right?" Zack asked.

* * *

Melissa felt her phone vibrate with a message, so she paused in trying to figure out the best placement for a pufferfish TV set to check it. "Sara sent me a video message," she explained as the other girls crowded around her to see the video.

She hit play and the screen enlarged to show Zack and an owl dancing to the Bettys. The camera quivered slightly as she and Milo tried to stifle their giggles.

Merry and Kiki burst into high-pitched laughter. "He's so cute when he gets caught," Merry said breathlessly.

Melissa smirked. "He's not living this one down. Ever."


	9. Mission: Retrieve Pikachu

_This chapter is based on something that aggravated me a lot on Animal Crossing Population Growing as a kid. And that is fetch this item from Villager A, whoops Villager A left it at Villager H's house, now Villager Q has it and is being a jerk._

 _Ch 9- Mission: Retrieve Pikachu_

* * *

"I lost my favorite Pikachu, and I'm way too hungry to go out and look for it," Bones complained. "Can you two go out and look for me? I'll just stay here and mope miserably for the rest of my dog years." The dog laid on a bed in a far corner, tail limply hanging between his legs.

Vinnie patted him on the back. "Sure thing. We'll have that, uh, you said a Pikachu? Could you describe it so we know what it looks like?"

"Um, it has two black eyes, a mouth, a body, and it's the color of a banana that hasn't browned yet." Bones shook his head, his ears drooping. "Man, my brain is completely mush. All I can think of is Pikachu and food, yip yip."

"How helpful," Balthazar grumbled.

"No worries! We'll get your Pikachu back! Where did you see it last?" Vinnie asked.

"Flora thought it was cute and wanted to borrow it for a while," Bones muttered.

"See, what's so hard about that?" Vinnie asked. "We head to Flora's, grab Pikachu, and the task will be over before you know it!"

* * *

It was a beautiful day, so Murphy set up the booth by the seashore. He hung up the sign that had 'Free Friend' painted in rainbow colors with a stylized arrow pointing to him.

"Now all I have to do is wait for someone to wander by. Then I'll ask them to be my friend so we can do fun friend things! Like singing by the campfire, or making bracelets, and can't forget snowball fights! It will be glorious!" Murphy exclaimed.

Something hit the back of his head and bounced off. He turned around to see a bottle lying in the sand as well as a furious Eloise, who was clutching another bottle in her trunk. "Pipe down! You're disrupting my meditation time! This is the only clover patch in town, and I intend to use it properly!"

Right. She was one of those crazy Leprechaunists. "Do you want to be my friend?" he asked.

His effort was rewarded with a bottle to the face.

"Guess not."

* * *

Flora had a thing for plastic flamingos. More accurately, she had a thing for pretending to be a plastic flamingo. There was a sign in her front yard declaring "Flora's not here. She's pretending to be a yard decoration right now. If you want to talk, find her yourself!" There was a whole maze of them outside her hot pink house. Balthazar had seen these things before in suburban homes. They were an eyesore, in his opinion. No functional purpose at all.

As a trained agent, he was supposed to be able to pick out a needle in a haystack with ease. The key words were "supposed to".

"Found her yet?" Balthazar called, tossing aside a plastic flamingo with a party hat.

"No! But you have to see this one! It's got googly eyes!" Vinnie tapped the stand, making the eyes jiggle. He laughed. "We should get one of these things. Maybe two, because I wouldn't want them to be lonely."

No. Just no. There were enough flamingos to last a lifetime. His nightmares were going to switch from the world going down in flame and ashes to flamingo armies enslaving humanity, he was sure.

"You take the left flank, and I'll search the right," Balthazar ordered. "Leave no stand unchecked!"

Vinnie looked up from his shrimp crackers. "I was listening," he protested.

"Did you have those the entire time?" Balthazar asked.

"I always have a bag of snacks on my person," Vinnie said. "Thought you knew that?"

Next to him, a flamingo wobbled and craned her long neck slightly. She seemed to be eyeing the shrimp crackers. Vinnie noticed and offered the bag to her, drawing back when she thrust her head in and noisily gobbled down the crackers.

"That's one way to out a flamingo," Balthazar remarked. "Now, Bones said you had his Peekaboo-"

"Pikachu," Vinnie corrected.

"Gesundheit," Balthazar said. "And he'd like it back."

Flora said something, but the bag was stuck on her beak so everything came out garbled. Vinnie pulled it off for her. "Thanks, I owe you! For the crackers and the bag, pinky! Asking about Pikachu, huh? Pikachu's gone. Puck was visiting and he liked Pikachu so much he didn't even ask me if he could have it! Just up and took it!"

Balthazar rubbed his temples in irritation.

* * *

Murphy's friendship booth wasn't attracting anyone except for a few crabs that wandered by. And even then, they seemed more interested in the shells that decorated the base rather than the bear behind it.

Maybe it wasn't noticeable enough? Murphy groaned. He didn't have the Bells for more materials.

* * *

"I don't have him! I swear I don't!" Puck shouted, straining at his ropes. "Please don't break that hockey stick! That was from my first tournament ever!"

Instead of dropping the stick, Balthazar held it close to Puck's beak so he could clearly see the wood splinter as it slowly broke under an iron grip. Behind him, Vinnie disposed of the other sports equipment that had been broken, deflated,and ruined during the interrogation.

Puck gulped, sweating nervously. "Okay, I'll tell you! He's with Savannah! She thought he was cute!"

"Savannah's here?" Balthazar gasped, then cleared his throat. "How do you know her? She's not to be trusted. Attractive women like her are very deceitful."

"With an attitude like that, I'm starting to see why that blind date mission was a bust," Vinnie muttered.

Balthazar whipped around. "What was that?"

Vinnie scratched his head. "I, uh, said I was craving pie crusts! Yup! Cause you can't have a filling without the base! Man, now I really want pie."

"How do you know Savannah?" Balthazar asked.

"Uh-well. we kinda met when she wrangled me with her killer lasso by mistake," Puck blushed. "She's the loveliest zebra I've ever had the pleasure of meeting."

"Zebra," Balthazar said, secretly relieved that they wouldn't have to deal with higher-ranked agents. He was sick of being one-upped. "Which way did she go?"

"Lasso practice," Puck said. "Out by the apple orchard I think."

Balthazar untied the ropes that bound Puck to the chair, leaving him to mourn the loss of his hockey sticks.

* * *

Murphy had dozed off, only to be rudely awakened by a painful zap. "I didn't take the giraffe's sassafras!" he yelled. "Don't arrest me!" His shirt was tattered from the shock, green fur slightly singed and smoking.

Peering over the booth, he found a small, yellow mouse snickering at his discomfort. "Hi. Would you like to be my friend?" Murphy asked.

"Pika!" the mouse nodded, holding out his paw.

Murphy shook it, and the mouse's cheeks sparked with electricity as he zapped him again, completely destroying his shirt.

The mouse laughed and scampered off.

"That was my...favorite shirt," Murphy said dazedly.

* * *

"Oh, that little ol' thing?" Savannah said. "Nothin' but trouble, I tell y'all. Started eating mah apples so Ah chased him off. He scuttled off to the beach."

Finally. Nice to know there was one sane animal in this town. However, now that they knew this 'Pikachu' was a living creature and not just a doll or action figure, things could get complicated. Balthazar had no qualms about stuffing it in a bag and dumping it on Bones' doorstep, but Vinnie usually objected to that sort of thing.

As they headed down to the beach, they saw Eloise meditating in a clover patch and took extra care to sneak behind her so she didn't start proclaiming her love for leprechauns again.

Down on the beach, two canine police officers were dragging an unconscious green bear off the sand. "Murphy. Why is it always Murphy?" one of them complained.

"He must've knocked that bear out," Balthazar mused. "And somehow got in and out of town without anyone noticing. What if he also stole Pikachu from Bones? Dakota, we must find out where Agent Murphy is hiding at once! That Pikachu is in danger!"

Vinnie groaned. "You owe me dinner when this mission inevitably fails like the others."

Balthazar glared at him.

"What?"

* * *

Pikachu hopped off the train and weaved in between the larger animals' legs. A hippopotamus almost stepped on his tail, and he barely moved the appendage out of the way. Disoriented, he ran down the stairs on all fours to a less crowded area, turning in a random direction.

Only to slam into a glass door.

"Whoops, sorry about that!" a voice exclaimed. "Lucky for you I always keep a minimum of five first aid kits in my backpack!"


End file.
